Define Normal
by TotalGamer98
Summary: It started out as a typical day in Death City, including reluctant roommates, broken doorknobs, cardboard boxes, twenty-four stripes, and pet snakes. Normal is strange and strange is normal as three groups of partners, and a few extras, try to survive everyday life. It doesn't end well. Includes SoulXMaka and SteinXMedusa, and anime spoilers. Rating went up to T because of Blair.
1. Roommates or Inmates?

**Fourth FanFic. Cool. **** Not exactly sure what I was planning to accomplish with this, it was spawned off a random idea and friends saying they wanted more stories. By the way, all my FanFictions so far work in chronological order with one another, so if you've read my previous Soul Eater works, you might understand some things a bit better. However, it isn't necessary to have read them for the main plotline and I'll try to explain things as best I can. So, without further ado, the disclaimer, even though I'm pretty sure you know I don't own Soul Eater.**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 1**

**Roommates or Inmates?**

* * *

It was quiet. Too quiet. There was no life to be seen, not a sound to be heard. All was still and motionless, as if awaiting a coming storm. And come it did.

"MAKA! WATCHA DOIN'?"

"BLAIR?! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"

"WHAT THE HECK'S GOING ON?!"

"EVERYONE'S YELLING; I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH YELLING!"

Maka slammed her face down on the book she had reading. The teenage meister had been sitting at the kitchen table, quietly enjoying the literature she had chosen to immerse herself in. However, her self-proclaimed housecat had come to the conclusion that she wanted attention and that Maka must be extremely bored staring at the squiggles on paper the latter called "words". Blair had never learned how to decipher the code termed "reading", and she had no interest in the matter and no intention to do so. After deciding that her pigtailed friend must be tired of seemingly doing nothing, the purple feline proceeded to jump on the table while changing her form to that of an unclothed woman. The juvenile Albarn then began to tell the cat off at the top of her lungs, causing Soul to look up from his music and manga volumes then demand an explanation. All this commotion stirred up the newest member of the residence, causing the aforementioned child to cry out in confusion. And they wonder why they're the only tenants in their apartment building.

Maka sighed and stood from her chair as Blair, looking disappointed, waved her index finger to summon her typical purple dress onto her body.

"You're no fun, Maka." Blair whined.

"Reading is fun." Maka retorted, going to Crona's room to soothe him, when she remembered her promise to Soul to explain things to him as well. She backed up, opening his door.

"Hey." She smiled. The eyes of the scythe she was addressing merely flicked upward to glance at her. The latter had just settled back into his manga after the ordeal, and was still slightly perturbed.

"Blair jumped on the table while I was reading." Maka explained, causing Soul, despite his mood, to chuckle softly at the mental picture.

"Interesting. Thanks for telling me." He smiled, and then turned his gaze back to the adventures of Edward Elric recorded upon the pages before him. Maka nodded and closed the door once again. She was glad that she and Soul were both being more open to each other lately; the atmosphere within the household had been much less tense. But as a result of this thought, as the pigtailed meister walked towards the back of their home to console Crona, the gears within her mind began turning and an idea took form.

"I suppose you're all wondering why I've called you here today." Maka stated, examining the faces of her companions. Blair, Crona and Soul were all seated upon the living room couch, Crona conveniently placed between the cat and the scythe to discourage any of the cat's shenanigans involving Maka's weapon partner.

"Yeah, a little bit, but I don't really care." Soul muttered, nonchalant.

"You should." Maka said. "It involves you. I think we should change some of our living situations around here, and I want your opinion."

Soul sighed. "Okay, shoot."

Crona suddenly looked scared. "Why would we want to shoot anyone?" He exclaimed. "I don't wanna get shot!"

Soul bit back a smart retort. "It's an expression." He said through gritted teeth.

"_Anyway_," Maka sighed. "It's come to my attention that you two," She pointed at Soul and Crona respectively, "Have warmed to each other since Crona's moved in."

Both of the boys in question gave Maka looks that read "are you serious?"

Maka smiled warmly, not noticing their unpleasant expressions. "That's why I think you two should be roommates!"

"WHAT?!" Meister and weapon both said in unison. Crona was still intimidated by Soul, and the latter's opinion of the former remained sour.

"Maka," Soul began, "You can't be serious! Crona already has his own room, and you've said yourself that mine is a pigsty!" He hated to refer to his own room in such a manner, but he was trying to appeal to his meister's opinion. However, the blonde wouldn't budge.

"Soul, Crona's currently sleeping on an air mattress we barely managed to squeeze in the hallway's walk-in closet."

"I like my closet…"

"Furthermore, while you're not beating each other up anymore,"

"That was Crona's fault."

"I know your opinions of each other are still iffy. And if we're all going to live under the same roof, we need to be kind to one another." Maka concluded.

Soul glared at Crona, causing the pink-haired Gorgon to clutch the couch pillow he had been clinging to in discomfort.

"Why'd you call me, Maka?" Blair asked.

"Good question." Maka smiled. "In another attempt to better our relationships, I'll be taking Blair shopping."

"Yay!" Blair squeed.

Soul proceeded to stare at his meister. "Why are you suddenly so concerned about this stuff, Maka?" He raised an eyebrow, causing the girl to smile.

"I just thought it'd be nice to get to know each other better. We've already come a long way." She proceeded to pick up her purse from the table. "Blair and I are leaving for the mall. When we get back, I want Soul's room spotless and all of Crona's stuff moved into it." She said as opened the door for Blair, who skipped into the outside hallway, grinning.

"We're going shopping!" The cat cheered.

"Yes, Blair." Maka smiled, but was already beginning to regret her decision. "Bye, guys." She added without turning around to face them and promptly walked out, closing the door behind her.

After hearing the lock click, Soul turned to Crona. "Do you wanna move in with me?" He asked for his opinion, and the pink-haired meister shook his head.

"No." He was quiet for a minute, then added; "Do I have a choice?"

"No." Soul replied, standing. "I'm trying to stay on Maka's good side because we just got in a relationship, and I'm afraid of making it crumble. So I'll do what she asks."

"What's that?" Crona asked. Soul looked over at him.

"What's what?"

"Being in a relationship."

Soul facepalmed. Despite his efforts to please Maka, he openly showed his low tolerance for Crona when she wasn't home. "It means I like Maka, and Maka likes me."

"Oh. So since I like Maka and she likes me, we're in a relationship?"

"NO."

"What's the difference?"

"I like her more than you do, and she likes me in a different way that she likes you."

"How do you know you like Maka more than I do and that she likes you in a different way?"

"Because I just know and she told me."

"Then… In what way does she like me?"

"You're her friend."

"And you're not?"

"I'm more than her friend."

"What are you?"

Soul was hesitant for a moment, but finally proclaimed; "I'm her boyfriend."

Crona looked confused. "But I'm a boy, and I'm her friend."

"Well, it's… It's different!" Soul growled in exasperation. "Ask Ragnarok later." The scythe told him, walking down the hall to Crona's closet. The timid child followed suit, but remained clutching the couch cushion.

"Shouldn't we clean your room before moving my things?" He asked, stepping inside the closet.

"Nah. This'll take more time than shoving everything under my bed." Soul replied. Crona made a mental note that cleaning meant "shoving everything under bed" and then looked around his former living quarters. It held clothes from everyone in the household, and had a small dresser in the corner for Crona's clothes. In the back was a twin blow-up mattress, whose only adjournments were a large pillow and black fleece blanket, and a small shopping bag with random pieces of anything Crona found interesting as its contents.

"It's kinda pathetic back here." Soul stated. "You seriously live here?"

Crona shrugged. "I've had worse." He closed the door after turning the light switch to "on". Soul rolled his eyes.

"Why'd you close the door? We need to carry the mattress out, and I don't feel like deflating it and then blowing it back up in my room."

"Isn't it our room now?"

"No, it's still my room. You'll just sleep there."

"Oh." Crona watched Soul pick up the mattress and hold it under his arm with little effort. "It does need air, though." The boy added.

Soul groaned. "Fine. I'll pump it up when we get to my room." He muttered, reaching a hand out to turn the doorknob. Crona watched him, then spoke up.

"Soul, I forgot…"

Soul jiggled the handle when the door wouldn't budge.

"The doorknob sometimes gets…"

Soul growled in aggravation and turned the knob with all his might.

"Stuck."

Soul's eyes widened as the knob broke off in his hand.

"Sorry."

Soul glared at his new roommate, causing the other to slink behind his pillow. "I'm stuck in a closet with you, aren't I?" The former muttered, earning a timid nod from the latter. Soul rolled his eyes once again.

"Great."

* * *

**So how was that for a first chapter? More will be added ASAP, so stay tuned! :D**


	2. Kid, Don't Try This At Home

**I'm back! Miss me? ;) Probably not. Anyways, I just thought I'd put here that the 50****th**** Doctor Who special and the My Little Pony season 4 premiere were both awesome today :D (Started writing this on the 23****rd**** of November) Without further ado, we have the first Kid-centered chapter of the series. I disclaim. I own nothing. (Seriously, at the moment I own no Soul Eater merchandise. I feel like a failure as a fangirl.) I'm gonna reference a few things in this chapter, so if you're confused about anything, feel free to mention it in a review or PM. :)**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 2**

**Kid, Don't Try This At Home**

* * *

The viewing of television. That brain-rotting activity held little interest to the juvenile Grim Reaper. However, there were others in his household that quite enjoyed staring unblinking at fictional characters upon glowing screens, and such people would stay up all night doing so, much to the Shinigami's displeasure.

Death the Kid pulled his pillow over his head, and when he realized that the horrible noises were still reaching his ears, he checked the clock on one of his bedside tables. He rolled his eyes and groaned. "PATTY! LIZ!" The Reaper yelled. "IT'S FOUR IN THE MORNING! I DENY YOU THE RIGHT TO BE UP AT SUCH AN ASYMMETRICAL HOUR!"

The sisters didn't hear their meister, or probably just ignored him, as they remained immersed in their respective programs. Of course the large living room of Gallows Manor _must_ be symmetrical, resulting in the two sides of the room being perfect mirror images of the other. Because of this, there were two televisions on opposite sides of the large room, enabling the Thompson sisters to both watch their own shows without bothering the other. Patty laughed uncontrollably at the hilarity of pastel ponies pouncing precariously on precipices, while Liz cried her heart out as she watched her favorite Doctor fade into glowing light.

"Why, David?! WHY?!" She sobbed.

Patty turned around during a commercial break to see her sister collapse on the floor. "Aw, sis. Did you watch The End of Time again?" She giggled. "C'mon, don't throw a fit like Kid does! Be happy! After David Tennant regenerates, he becomes the Eleventh Doctor! My favorite!" The blonde clapped.

"B-but… David Tennant is gone…" Liz whimpered. "I wanted to remember him well enough that I wouldn't miss him as much during the fiftieth anniversary episode…"

Patty skipped over to her sister, still grinning. "Well, it comes on in less than twelve hours, and my show's season premiere comes on in about six. That's why we're watching marathons, to lead up to it! So get off the floor or you're going to fall asleep!"

Liz looked up at her sister, her eyes red from crying and lack of sleep. "You're right…" She stood. "I refuse to quit now!"

"Yay!" Patty cheered.

"We've been watching television since school let out yesterday," The older Thompson proclaimed, "To be in preparation for the unveiling of the new episodes! And I WILL NOT QUIT NOW JUST BECAUSE I'M DYING WITH FEELS!"

"You tell 'em, sis!" Patty encouraged her.

Liz grinned, and that expression, combined with her sleep-deprived eyes and uncombed hair, made her look like a maniac. She sat back on down her couch, staring at the screen. However, it took her a few seconds to process that the screen was off. "Wait… What? PATTY!"

"Wasn't me!" Patty exclaimed, rushing back to her TV. "Mine's off, too!"

"Patricia and Elizabeth Thompson!"

The sisters whipped around to the doorway, where stood he who had committed the terrible crime of shutting off their televisions. He held one remote in each hand; one pointed at the television Liz had been viewing, and other at the one Patty had been watching.

"Kid?" Cried Patty, looking close to tears herself. "Why'd you turn them off?!"

"Because you two obviously need sleep, and so do I!" Kid exclaimed. "For Dad's sake, it's the middle of the night!"

"Um…" Liz timidly peeked at her meister from behind the couch, "Actually, it's early morning…"

"That's not my point!" Kid groaned. "The point is that you've done nothing but stare at Doctor What and My Little Horse…"

"Doctor Who and My Little Pony!" The sisters corrected in unison.

"Whatever they are," Kid sighed, "You've been watching them for the last twelve hours. I realize season premieres and whatnot come on tomorrow…"

"It's not just 'whatnot'; it's the fiftieth anniversary special!"

"LET ME FINISH." Kid growled, and the sisters then remembered why they typically let the Reaper have his sleep. "The premieres come on ten in the morning and two-fifty in the afternoon, if I remember correctly. So you two have plenty of time to sleep before then, and I am absolutely sure we all need sleep." He said and then pointed upstairs. "Now get upstairs and to your rooms." He snapped. Looking crestfallen, the sisters trudged up the stairs. Patty turned around to give her meister one last sad look, then continued upwards.

Kid sighed, rubbing his temples. He felt slightly guilty for making his partners feel so terrible, but he assured himself that it was for their own good. Without another thought on the matter, he walked upstairs as well, yawning and already imagining himself lying symmetrically in his comfortable silk sheets.

* * *

Liz looked up groggily, thinking she had imagined the sound. But there it was again; the knocking upon her door. Having earlier that evening watched way too much sci-fi that than was good for her, the elder Thompson slid out of bed and walked to her door tentatively, imagining that perhaps a hostile Sontaran stood on the other side. Her thoughts began to escalate as her exhausted mind pictured foes far worse; perhaps a Weeping Angel was waiting to whisk her to another time, or a Dalek sat there ready to fire her into oblivion. She quickly grabbed the softball bat she had used last summer as her thoughts conjured up the image of a Cyberman that had come to turn her into an emotionless robot. Swinging open the door, she cried; "I AM NOT COMPATIBLE!" Her bat then collided with the head of the intruder.

At that moment, the teen took note of three things, the first being that a Cyberman wouldn't knock to be let in, nor would any other frightening foe from Doctor Who, save, perhaps, the Empty Child. The next point was that whatever she hit, it was much shorter than a Cyberman. And lastly, the sound produced from the impact of her bat hitting her opponent's head sounded nothing like the resounding 'clang' that would've been produced if she had it a Cyberman. She blinked into the dark hallway, trying to make out the crumpled figure upon the floor that had fallen after Liz decided to attack.

"Sister uses softball bat… It's super effective…" The figure groaned.

"Patty?" Liz exclaimed, trying to help her sister to her feet. "S-sorry! I thought you were a… Nevermind. Just get up."

"Nope." Patty mumbled. "Patty fainted. Use next Pokémon or run."

Liz rolled her eyes, shaking her sister. "Patty, I know you're not unconscious. Now tell me why you decided to freak me out."

Patty looked up at her sister, suddenly appearing fine. "I wasn't trying to freak you out. I wanted to talk to you."

Liz sighed. "Fine. What was it you wanted to tell me?" She asked and then glanced at the clock. Seven a.m. Kid would be getting up in an hour since this was a Saturday and they didn't have to go to school.

"Well, I feel kinda bad for Kid." Patty murmured. "I mean, he didn't get much sleep last night because we were watching TV. The poor guy fell asleep on the stairs."

Liz glanced around the blonde to see that she spoke the truth. The entrance to the older sister's room was not far from the stairs, and from where she sat the brunette could see the top of the cluster of black and white hair that belonged to her meister.

"So I wanted to do something nice for him!" Patty smiled sweetly. "And I wanted to show you what I made to make him happy!"

Liz rolled her eyes, standing up. "All right. Let's see it."

Patty clapped. "Yay! C'mon!" She then proceeded to run back to her room, Liz following much slower. Upon opening the door to her sister's room after the latter closed it, the former winced.

"Patty, if Kid saw this mess he'd have nightmares for weeks." She told the blonde, swerving around the piles of toys and cardboard boxes that her sister liked to play in, to reach the largest box, most likely from a refrigerator, which Patty stood beside.

"Yeah. That's why I'm bringing this box to him instead of having him come in here, silly!" The young gun giggled, trying to pick up the box. Liz rolled her eyes, helping her sister and grunting with the effort.

"This thing is really heavy, Patty. What's in here?" The older sister asked.

"Mostly a lot of wires, some light bulbs, a mini power generator, and a grape soda." The younger smiled. "I came up with a way to duplicate multiple molecular structures at a single moment with pinpointed precision in this box that's programmed to execute its purpose as soon as detects body heat! And I want Kid to have it!"

Liz froze, looking terrified. "You did what now?" She whimpered.

Patty laughed. "I've thought about becoming Stein's apprentice." She beamed innocently. Liz shied away from her sister, not saying another word as they set the box inside Kid's door. The elder Thompson then continued back to her room, wondering if the younger had been secretly a genius this whole time, or she was even more insane than they had previously thought.

* * *

Kid yawned and stirred, blinking as he woke up at precisely eight in the morning. Suddenly he stiffened. The young Reaper had just come to the realization that he had fallen asleep on the stairs, in a most horrifyingly asymmetrical position. He jerked awake, quickly sitting and then standing upright. He sighed, deriving that he must have fallen asleep as he had been traveling back upstairs earlier that morning. The juvenile Shinigami continued his walk, striding into his room. He froze up upon entering his chambers, seeing the obscene cardboard box in the middle of the floor. Its wasn't very hard to know who would leave such an item in their meister's room.

"Patty!" He called out the door, "Get this thing out of here!" After voicing his displeasure, the young gun meister turned back to the box. It didn't appear suspicious, he thought as he looked around the outside, but it was horrifyingly ugly. There were scrapes and scratches on one side that were perfectly off balance with the wears and tears on the other side. He winced at its outside appearance once again, and then opened the flaps to peer inside. What he saw made him jump back in surprise, and then stick his head back in for a double-take.

The whole box was lined with wires and light bulbs, and a small generator whirring in the corner. There was also a small device on the roof of the box, although he couldn't detect its origin or purpose. As he wondered how in the world Patty had managed to come up with something like this or if it even worked, the unknowing Reaper foolishly stepped in.

Patty was skipping up the stairs, answering her meister's summons, when she heard the explosion. "Oh. He found the present!" She grinned, trotting up to his room. Upon throwing open the door, clouds of black smoke billowed out into the hallway. The young gun, unfazed, and standing with her head in the middle of what would be a suffocating mass to any other who obeyed the laws of physics, called into the fog; "Kid! Do ya like your gift?"

"NO, *cough* PATTY!"

"Why did you even do this?"

"What led you to set a bomb in my bedroom?!"

"Patricia Thompson, you are grounded!"

"There is no way you are watching your season premiere this morning!

"Um… Wait…"

"What in the world…"

"Why is my voice coming from different directions?"

As the smoke cleared and everyone got good looks at one another, Patty grinned. "Surprise!"

Patty had managed to clone Kid, and there were eight of them.

* * *

**2nd Chapter is done! And Patty cloned Kid. How will this play out? And yes, it will tie-in to the other story with Maka, Soul and the others… Somehow… XD Let me brainstorm on that one. My confidence level is really low on this chapter, so if you liked it, PLEASE tell me my some means. It means a lot to me.**


	3. The Kitty, the Reaper, and the Wardrobe

**Chapter 3! :D I feel accomplished. Now that we've got the two introductory chapters, I'll probably jump around locations in this chapter. But I thought of a way to tie-in the Kid plotline with the others, so yay :) Credit to my friend ~Adlez~ for an idea for this chapter.**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 3**

**The Kitty, the Reaper, and the Wardrobe**

* * *

There's a limited amount of things one can do when one's sealed in a walk-in closet with one's rival. With very little resources such as food, water, or Shonen manga, it's easy to grow bored and irritable. Music might be a desired form of entertainment in such a situation, but at the moment an iPod was nowhere to be found, and the music available was becoming very agitating.

"Crona," Groaned Soul, "_Please _stop humming. I must've asked you at least fifty times to STOP HUMMING."

"Sorry." Crona murmured. "I thought you liked music."

Soul rubbed his eyes. He truly believed he was going to impale the child if the young Gorgon became any more annoying. "That wasn't music. That was the sound of a harmonica drowning."

"Have you heard a harmonica drown? Was it sad? Did it die?" Crona asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

The scythe shook with the effort it required to hold down his temper. "No, Crona. And I don't want to if it sounds like that." He grumbled, then stood and began pacing out of irritation, which there wasn't much room to do.

Crona watched his friend's weapon partner. The air mattress had been returned to its original position, and the Demon Swordsman had seated himself on the far end so he could lean against the wall. He had thought about trying to strike up a conversation, but after seeing the glare in Soul's eyes, he didn't even attempt it. The pink-haired meister truly wanted to befriend the scythe, but he knew that the other end of the companionship most likely would not approve.

Crona then smiled in a friendly way, pulling out a small box from his shopping bag of personal belongings. "Hey Soul," He asked as the addressed party stopped his pacing and gazed over at the child. "Do you want to play Go Fish?" He asked nicely, holding out the box of playing cards.

Soul was silent as he picked up the cardboard package from the meister's hand. The text on the card container, in big pink letters, read _Go Fish, My Little Pony Edition_.

"Definitely not. Way too much pink." Soul muttered, handing the box back to Crona gingerly as if afraid the pink would rub off. "Where'd you even get that?"

"Patty." Crona explained. "She gave it to me as a housewarming gift when I moved here."

Soul rolled his eyes. Of course the younger Thompson would be the one to give their friend a pack of dollar store Go Fish cards for a housewarming present.

"Well, it's not my idea on fun." The scythe mumbled nonchalantly.

"Oh. Okay." Crona replied while putting the box back into its place in his plastic bag. "What's your idea of fun, then?"

Soul thought. "Fighting. Playing music. Sleeping." He replied after a minute.

Crona thought about that. "Well… You can sleep in here."

Soul tried to figure out how the lock worked or if he could open the door without a busted doorknob. "Or I could fight you."

Crona appeared alarmed. "Please don't! I don't want to fight!"

Soul chuckled a little. "I was kidding, man. Lighten up."

Crona found himself smiling a little once again. If his roommate was in the mood to joke, then he was assured that he must be growing more comfortable in their situation.

"Dang it." Soul muttered, standing upright. "I have no idea how this thing works. Maka would know, but if she were here we probably wouldn't be stuck in here in the first place." He sighed, leaning against the wall. It was then that he realized how much he wanted his meister back home. He needed her to help with Crona; he certainly couldn't handle the child on his own. But more importantly, he needed to be by her side, where he always was. It felt wrong to not be able to reach her and to not be her blade and savior if she was in harm's way. He would never be able to forgive himself if his love was hurt while he was shut away with only a mere door and lock separating him from her. The scythe clenched his fists, determination blazing in his red eyes like a flurry of dancing flames.

Crona had been reading the book on birds that Maka had lent him when he suddenly found himself pulled into the air and held straight out like a battering ram.

"FOR MAKA!" Soul cried, running forward and slamming the confused boy's face into the door.

"Ow…" Crona moaned. "Soul, what are you doing?"

"Busting us out." Soul replied matter-of-factly, repeating the process.

"Why OOF are you using my face?" Crona whimpered.

"Because you have a hard head." Soul answered.

"Yeah, because Ragnarok hits it so much…"

"Remember when you surprised Liz during her softball practice last summer?"

"It was an accident…"

"Whatever. Remember when she hit you with her bat and you barely even flinched?"

"I guess… But that was the OW side of my head. You're hitting the door with my face!"

Soul paused. "True. Turn your head down. I'll use the top." He said, and then slammed Crona into the door again as the latter looked down quickly.

"But I don't know how to deal with being a battering ram!" Cried Crona, but despite his pleas, Soul continued to replicate the procedure of ramming the child's head into the closet door for the next few minutes.

"Well that failed." The two sat once again on Crona's mattress a while later, the pink-haired boy rubbing his terribly sore head.

"Do you have any idea of anything to do in here?" The white-haired teen asked. "_Other _than Go Fish."

Crona shook his head. "No." He mumbled.

Soul sighed, flopping backwards onto the bed. "Great." He muttered then looked at the clothes hanging around him. Noticing that one of Maka's long black coats had fallen on the floor, he picked it up, fully prepared to hang it upon a hanger. Suddenly he chuckled. "Hey, do you know what'd be fun?"

Crona turned to him. "Does it involve my head getting hurt again?"

Soul shook his head, standing up. "Nope." The scythe proceeded to grab some of his meister's other clothes off their hanger. Crona looked confused when the scythe pulled his arm through the sleeve.

"What are you doing, Soul?" The young Gorgon asked.

Soul grinned, messily putting on one of Maka's ties. "Seeing if Maka's stuff'll fit me." He replied, throwing one of the blonde's white blouses at the pink-haired boy. "Try that on. You're skinny like her."

Crona looked at the shirt, a little confused. But he did what Soul asked; wondering slightly at what "fun" could come out of this.

* * *

Patty was seated upon Death the Kid's bed, and was quickly surrounded by all eight of her meisters.

"We have a lot of questions, Patty." One of the Reapers began.

"And you had better answer them." Another added.

Patty smiled sweetly. "Oki doki Loki!" She saluted.

"First question." Began a Kid. "What on Earth happened to me?"

"Oh. That's easy!" Patty grinned. "You were upset because you didn't get a lot of sleep, so I decided to try and cheer you up. So I cloned you." The young gun beamed. "You always said that there should be more people like you."

The Kids rolled their eyes. "Yes, yes, fine. But how did you manage to create such a machine?" An additional Shinigami asked.

Patty laughed. "I have no idea!"

The Kids then facepalmed. "All right. But how do we know which is a clone and which is the real me?" Yet another spoke up, to which the blonde shrugged.

"I have no idea. In TV or comics, there's always some way." She noted. "But you all look exactly alike."

The Kids froze at her most recent comment. "We all look…" They gazed at each other in wonder, "Exactly alike?"

"Yep." Patty replied absentmindedly, looking as deep in thought as was possible for the younger Thompson. The Kids stared at each other for a minute longer.

"We all look exactly alike!" They exclaimed. Each was seeing the situation in a different light; what was formerly a horrible ordeal was now a glorious opportunity for absolute beauty.

"WE'RE ALL SYMMETRICAL!" The eight rejoiced right before Liz burst in the door.

"Kid, are you okay? I heard an explosion, and I figured it was Patty's box…" The elder Thompson froze. "There's… Eight Kids…"

"Isn't it a wonderfully symmetrical number?" The multiple Reapers sighed in ecstasy.

Liz's eye twitched for a second before an earsplitting scream burst from her lungs. "WE'VE BEEN INVADED BY ZYGONS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" She cried, and then the teenage gun continued to scream as she ran back to her room.

Patty laughed and continued to go console her sister of the fact that they were not being invaded by shape-shifting aliens. Meanwhile, the Kids began to try and discover eight symmetrical outfits. As his black and white suit was the only attire they had precisely that amount of, they each dressed in one accordingly.

"Liz!" One called out the door. "We're going to need you to make more breakfast!"

* * *

"So let me get this straight," The security guard sighed, then pointed at Blair. "You're a cat."

"Yep." Blair smiled in her human form.

"And you're from the DWMA." He pointed at Maka.

"Yes." Maka grumbled.

"And you brought your cat to the mall?"

"Wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done." Muttered Maka.

"Definitely not." The guard sighed. "Want me to go over the list of charges again?"

"Why not? It's not like my pride can become even more dead." The blonde meister replied. The girl and her cat both sat behind the bars of a temporary cell within the mall's basement security office.

"Well, for starters, your cat,"

"My name's Blair."

"_Blair_, overturned every cage in the pet shop."

"The poor critters deserved to be free!" Blair mewed sweetly.

"Uh-huh." The guard rolled his eyes. "Right. We still haven't been able to find that snake that crawled into the air vent."

"That won't end well." Maka flinched.

"And apparently, after _Blair _became intoxicated on the store's catnip stock, she proceeded to run around the mall…" The guard cringed. "_Nude_."

Blair laughed. "It was fun!"

The guard sighed once again. "I'm just glad you're wearing clothes now. However, I'm afraid I'll need to call your parents, young meister."

Maka resisted the urge to slam her face into the wall. If her father came, he'd most likely freak out so badly at the fact that his daughter was behind bars that he'd get himself arrested.

"The only parent that Maka knows the number of is her Daddy, Death Scythe!" Blair purred, but the security guard started to look concerned.

"Her father's a D-death Scythe?" He stuttered. It began to occur to him that a Death Scythe, enraged about his daughter's confinement, could easily tear him to shreds.

"Uh… Maybe we can put off that call for a minute…" The guard smiled awkwardly, stepping out of the office and leaving Maka and Blair alone. He sighed, knowing it was his duty to call the parent, but he was, however irrationally, scared of a Death Scythe's reaction to the situation.

Suddenly the air vent above him gave way and came crashing down onto his head, rendering the poor guard unconscious as the escaped snake fell down after the vent. Its black head turned to look over the guard, flicking its tongue in curiosity. The creature seemed to grin as it slithered off the man and down the hallway.

After going through a maze of doors, hallways and air ducts, the reptile finally arrived outside. It picked its head up, flicking its tongue out to taste the air and get a sense of direction. Its body moved gracefully as it kept to shadows and alleyways, trying to avoid detection as it neared its goal. The black-scaled snake froze when its tongue picked up the scent it was after. The scales around its mouth pulled back in what seemed to be a dark grin, and its golden slit eyes sparked with malice and a desire for revenge as it crawled into yet another air vent. Its black scales with the yellow arrow pattern disappeared into the grating before anyone could notice that a snake was making its way to the address of a certain blonde meister.

* * *

**The stage is set! :D I put a Kingdom Hearts reference in this chapter, if anyone happened to notice ;) Points if you did.**


	4. My Lab Partner's A Snake

**Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! They encourage me. Yet again, I disclaim, I do not own Soul Eater or any other fandoms that appear, but I'm pretty sure you've realized that by now. Although I shall warn you: I'm gonna incorporate another pairing into this chapter.**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 4**

**My Lab Partner's A Snake**

* * *

As you probably know, clothes come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Some clothes are better fit for boys and men, and some are better fit for girls and women. And even in the different categories, there are different sizes for how large or tall a person might be. Because of this, when guys decide to try on girl's clothes that are five sizes too small for them, the result can be uncomfortable.

_RIIIIIP_

"Oops." Soul mumbled, examining the large hole in the back seam of Maka's V-neck sweater that he had attempted to put upon himself.

Crona looked himself over in the mirror on the wall of the closet. He had fit perfectly in one of Maka's entire ensembles, but the pink-haired meister was finding the tiny pleated skirt hard to deal with. Soul glanced over at the boy and laughed.

"Man, that thing doesn't even come down over your boxers!" He exclaimed. The child turned beet red and quickly wrapped the black coat around his thin legs.

"What are you two doing?" Ragnarok interjected, emerging from his meister's back and examining the scene. "Wanna explain to me why you're both dressed up like girls?"

"Soul said it would be fun." Crona replied, still embarrassed.

"You know what's weird?" Soul mumbled, not paying any attention to the Demon Sword. "I fit in Blair's clothes better than I do my own meister's." He held up the feline's purple dress with one hand and positioned her witch's hat with the other.

Ragnarok guffawed loudly. "You two are total nut jobs! If this is the best thing you can come up with to do while you're locked in a closet, then you need serious help!" His laugher continued to echo in the small room as he dissipated back into his meister's blood.

Crona sighed. "Soul, can I please get- AH!" He yelled, turning to Soul and seeing him in Blair's dress.

"It fits." Soul grinned. "We should stay like this and freak the girls out when they come home!"

"They might get mad that we're wearing their clothes." Crona muttered, slipping off the coat. "I'm changing back; I don't know how to deal with wearing Maka's clothes." He added.

"You're no fun." Soul chuckled, badly imitating Blair's voice. He looked over the clothes on the racks once again, his gaze resting on a sky blue dress decorated with rhinestones and a decorative bow on the side.

"What's that?" Crona asked, watching Soul as the young Gorgon pulled a black t-shirt and jeans from his dresser.

"Maka's prom dress." Soul replied.

"Oh." Crona murmured. "Has Maka ever been to a prom?"

"No." The scythe sighed. "I've never had the courage to ask her to the school's dance. Plus she's more interested in studying, anyway." He said.

"So… Why does she have a prom dress?"

"Her Dad got it for her."

"Why would he get her a prom dress if she's never been to a prom?"

"I dunno. Probably to encourage her to go to one."

"Oh." Crona said quietly. As he glanced up at Soul once again, he saw the scythe appear to be deep in thought.

Soul could just see it; Maka and he would be the best ballroom dancers in the entire room. Then Maka would notice the empty grand piano in the corner and beg her partner to play. He would play for her; no one else in the room would matter as he composed their song right then and there. After which, he would lead his meister out to the terrace, where he'd sweep her close to him, and the couple would have their first kiss under the moonlight.

Soul nodded to himself as he decided at that moment that he'd summon the bravery to ask Maka Albarn to the prom this year.

"All right." Soul said, slipping out of Blair's dress and back into his own clothes. "That's enough of that."

Crona sighed with relief. "Good." He smiled as Soul resumed his spot next to the Demon Swordsman on the latter's air mattress. Soul pressed his hand down on it.

"You're right. This does need more air…"

_CLANG_

Crona's head shot up. "What was that? Is Maka home? What…" The boy was cut off as Soul slammed his hand over the meister's mouth.

"Quiet." He whispered. "Maka wouldn't have had to throw the air vent out of place to get in. Someone's breaking in." He snapped quietly. Crona stiffened with fear and nodded to Soul's words as the scythe removed his hand from the child's mouth. They couldn't hear anything for a minute, but the faintest of noises caused Crona's eyes to grow wide and blow their cover.

"IT'S A SNAKE! I HEARD A SNAKE'S HISS! IT'S MEDUSA!" He cried loudly. Soul quickly attempted to silence the child, but his efforts were futile. The scythe whipped around as the latch clicked and the door swung open, revealing a black snake wrapped around the knob with its tail in the lock as if it had been picking it.

Soul stiffened with fear as well; there was no mistaking those yellow arrows across its body. "What do you want?" He growled, trying not to seem afraid. The snake bared its fangs in a grin.

"_Revenge._" Medusa's voice echoed in their minds. Soul scooted backwards as the reptile slid off the door and slithered closer.

"But you're dead. I saw you. I split you in pieces. Your soul dissolved into nothing." The scythe continued.

"_My sister could disperse her soul into the forms of spiders. Why can't I do the same with snakes?_" Medusa replied. Suddenly she quickly lunged forward and wrapped herself around her son's arm, the child staring at her with fear reflected in his pale eyes. "_So I'm out to eliminate any threats to me. Starting with you, my dear child. Naughty boy; you tried to kill your own mother and survived when I tried to kill you._"

Soul's lower arm became a scythe's blade as he brought it down on the snake, but she dodged and instead bit his upper arm. Soul gasped in pain and pulled back, causing Crona to scream and giving his mother just the opportunity she needed.

Soul stared in horror as Medusa leaped into Crona's mouth in an attempt to possess him. The child gagged for a minute, then his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the ground. The scythe kept his distance and the body stirred before rising once again. The boy's eyes were now a pale gold as this frightening gaze turned to face Soul.

"I'd suggest running. I plan to kill you too, you know." He smirked, but it was Medusa's voice that came from his lips. Soul stared at the boy a minute longer, feeling helpless. Medusa chuckled. "Fine, then. Ragnarok." She smirked as the Demon Sword emerged from Crona's back and into his hand. His arm raised, ready to bring the black-and-white blade down upon the scythe. Soul, feeling cowardly, quickly got up and ran as the Snake Witch's laughter echoed throughout the apartment.

"_I can't hurt Crona._" Soul thought, racing to the bike rack at the front of the building. "_And I'm near useless on my own_." He pulled keys from his pocket, first unlocking the chain holding the wheel in place and then inserting another one into the ignition. "_I need to find Maka_." Tires screeched as the living scythe drove as fast as he could on his motorcycle to the mall.

* * *

It had been a long day. And night. And week. Franken Stein was growing restless; there was nothing to dissect or experiment on, and the current term he was teaching in class was terribly boring. In addition, Marie had been called off to monitor Oceania again for a little while, so everything was quiet. Nothing was new and all was boring, save the doctor's dreams.

Recently, every time he drifted off he could hear her voice; the enchanting voice of the Snake Witch he had seen die, begging him to find her, to rescue her. There were times where he would wake up suddenly, finding himself sleepwalking towards the door to look for her. The silver-haired meister would quickly go back to bed, resisting her pleas as best he could. But yet her words remained, haunting him.

It was that Saturday afternoon that he heard her voice once again. Stein had been falling asleep at the computer, his head pressed into the keyboard, causing the screen to show the half-hour's work of a constantly held down letter 'h'.

"Stein?"

The man's head shot up. Was this another dream that his mind had conjured?

"Please let me in, Doctor. It's cold out here."

Stein's wheeled lab chair flew backwards in the force the professor used to get up and rush down the stairs. He threw open the door upon reaching it, but the child before him caused him to believe he had been imagining the voice. However, Crona quickly spoke and caused the senior meister's confusion to return.

"Yes, it's me, Stein." Medusa's voice rang out to him through the boy's mouth. Stein shook his head in confusion.

"This is a dream… Right?" He murmured, causing Crona to smirk. The witch within him quickly realized that she could use this scenario to her advantage.

"Yes, Stein." She purred. "This is a dream. A dream that you never have to wake up from." She told him. She concluded that she could persuade him to do anything, and the madness produced by her snakes would do the rest.

"Can I come in now? It's cold." Crona shivered. Stein nodded, letting the child in. He doubted, however slightly, that perhaps this wasn't a dream, but the miniature madness wavelength produced by the witch soon extinguished the thought.

"Since this is a dream, Stein," Medusa began as Crona sat upon the leather of the stitched-up couch, "You can do anything you want. Experiment on anything you want. Dissect anything you want. And do you know what would be fun to dissect?"

Stein raised an eyebrow, watching the boy with curiosity as the former shook his head and the latter grinned.

"I bet you've never dissected a Reaper before."

* * *

"Patty, I really don't think this was the best of ideas." Liz groaned.

Patty tilted her head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean?" She asked. At that moment, two Kids proceeded to pick the young gun up from her seat on the couch while another dusted under her. "Kid's enjoying it." She continued as she was put down.

"That's exactly what I mean." The elder Thompson muttered, slapping one of the Kids that attempted to lift her out of the way of their cleaning. "I think they're enjoying it too much. They're cleaning the house from top to bottom, and I think they're going overboard."

Patty shrugged as yet another Kid appeared and spent the next five minutes trying to straighten her hat. "I don't see it."

Liz rolled her eyes and stood. "Fine. I'm going to go guard my room from Hurricane Symmetry." She said tromping up the stairs soon before the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" One of the Shinigamis proclaimed, going over to the door and opening it. "Oh hello, Crona! We're currently in the middle of fall cleaning, would you like to join…"

_THUD_

The Kid collapsed to the ground after Crona hit the Reaper's head with the blunt end of Ragnarok. After making sure that he was out cold, the witch's son threw the OCD teen into a mill sack, carrying him across town and back to Stein's lab as discreetly as possible. "A perfect ransom." The witch within the child grinned. "The Reaper would give up anything for his beloved son."

"Time for reports!" One Kid called after checking the clock. The group of clones had gotten in the habit of reporting their cleaning progress every hour.

"Our bedroom is absolutely perfect!"

"Nothing is amiss in the hallway!"

"All the toilet paper is properly folded!"

"There is not a speck of dust to be seen on either television!"

"The couches are free of dust as well!"

"Everything within the dining room is in its correct place!"

"Same as the kitchen!"

Silence.

"Wait…" One of the Kids froze. "Where is number eight?"

This statement caused the others to stiffen with shock. "We're no longer… Symmetrical?!" They exclaimed.

"Emergency meeting! Assemble in the living room!" One called, and the others quickly congregated to the aforementioned spot. It took the Kids a few minutes, and a lot of clamoring to sit on three cushions, to realize that they would not all fit on the couch, so they simply stood in a circle.

"One of our own is missing," Began a Kid, "Making our band horrifyingly asymmetrical. Do we have any reason that he might have wandered off?" He asked.

"Perhaps he was defective." Said one.

"Maybe since he thought the house was clean, he'd continue on and try to position the entire city symmetrically!"

"A good plan, but Dad would never allow it."

"Which leads us back to the possibility that he was a defective clone."

"What if he was the original?"

"Then possibly the situation was getting to him. I mean, if there was suddenly eight of you, how would you cope?"

"We'd bask in the symmetry and then clean the house from top to bottom, which is what we did. I doubt one of us would run off because the symmetry was too much for him."

"True…"

"Maybe he was kidnapped!" Patty beamed. The younger Thompson had evidently been seated on opposite couch the whole time. This assumption silenced the Reapers as they thought of the possibilities.

"Well… If he truly _was _kidnapped…" One spoke up, "Then I propose that we pursue the missing Kid and scour the city for him!" He exclaimed. The others were quiet for a few seconds, and then cheered as all seven ran out the door.

"Leave no stone unturned!"

"Search high and low!"

"Low and high!"

"No clone left behind!"

Their determined voices faded into the distance as Liz emerged from upstairs. "What was that all about?" She asked. Patty grinned.

"I got them all out of the house for you!"

* * *

"So… How long have we been in here?"

"I dunno. I thought you had a watch."

"I don't. I thought you had a phone."

"I dunno."

Maka crossed her arms in frustration. She was sure that the security guard had left hours ago, and she had no company other than a ditz of a cat who likely retained some catnip in her system. "So how are we going to get out of here? I have no idea what happened to that guard."

Blair was snapping her fingers in a bored manner. "I dunno." She replied once more. After snapping them a few times more, her cell phone appeared in her other hand. "Oh yeah." She smiled. "I can summon the phone with my magic." She purred, beginning to text her waitress friends at Chupa Cabra's, but Maka quickly snatched up the purple Droid.

"I need that." She muttered, quickly dialing Soul's number. "I sure hope he can bust us out of here." She sighed, putting the phone to her ear.

Insanely loud piano music began blasting from the cellular phone on Soul's dresser, but the scythe lad forgotten the device in his haste to escape.

Maka rolled her eyes. "Figures. He probably left Crona to move his own stuff and went off biking somewhere." She mumbled, wondering who she could call that would be able to get her out, by means legal or otherwise. She paused, knowing the only solution as she began to dial her father's number. However, she hesitated when she remembered there was no cell phone service in the Death Room, oddly enough, but he could receive texts. Also odd. She went on to text him, saying

_We r stuck n mall basement. Blair got us arrested_. –_Maka_

After hitting the "Send" button, the blonde handed the phone back to her cat, who gratefully took back her precious Droid. But Maka had forgotten if Spirit's phone was a newer model or not, and how quickly it received texts.

Maka sat down on the floor, sighing. "I just wish I had other company." She mumbled. Be careful what you wish for. She picked her head up as the basement door was thrown open.

"THE BIG MAN HAS ARRIVED!"

* * *

**You know he had to come in at some point XD By the way, that thing about getting texts where you don't have cellphone service? I have experience with that, and it's true. So are you liking? Tell me pwease. I give you digital cookies if you review.**


	5. In Which Things Blow Up

**Here comes chapter 5! :) *Insert disclaimer here* Again I draw inspiration for Doctor Who for a part of this ;) I don't own that either… And another reference that isn't so subtle. If you get it I applaud you.**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 5**

**In Which Things Blow Up**

* * *

There are some things some people should never do. For example, vampires should never become pediatricians, horses should never type for a living, and porcupines should never make balloon animals. Not the least of these is the fact that ninjas should never attempt to cook. Despite this, a certain ninja, believing that nothing was impossible for a "great star" like him, decided to attempt the activity of making breakfast to relieve his weapon partner of the position.

"Tsubaki needs a break," Black*Star told himself, getting out much more pots and pans than was necessary to make eggs, bacon, sausage biscuits, fruit salad and toast. "A big man like me needs a big breakfast." He grinned, opening the door of the refrigerator. "Now… What ingredients are in eggs?" He wondered out loud. He searched the fridge, trying to find anything that might help. The boy grinned when he discovered a carton labeled 'eggs' and pulled it out. He opened it eagerly, but his expression quickly became one of disappointment. There was nothing in the carton that looked like scrambled eggs; just weird-looking white oval things.

"Stupid carton. The words on it are wrong." He grumbled, shoving the hideous thing back in the fridge. He heard a strange cracking sound as he did this, but he ignored it. If those white things broke, then he'd never have to eat whatever they were, which sounded good to him. He even doubted if they were food. He decided he'd try to fix the other items he desired for his plate, and ask Tsubaki to get some eggs later.

Speaking of the boy's weapon partner, she remained fast asleep. Without her meister coming in and demanding food, like he did every morning, the teen had no reason to get up. It would've struck her as odd, but the girl was out cold and didn't think anything amiss as her dreams remained peaceful. But when the imaginary dinner party she was hosting became shrouded in smoke, the girl jerked awake. Smoke streamed into her bedroom through the open door. Coughing and waving smoke out of her way, the groggy Shadow Weapon stumbled into the kitchen.

"Black*Star?" She coughed. "What's going on?"

"Hey, Tsubaki!" The blue-haired boy smiled. "I'm making breakfast!"

Tsubaki sighed. "But Black*Star, the kitchen's full of smoke…"

"Yeah, sorry about that." The young meister chuckled awkwardly. "I couldn't find eggs, so I started to work on the bacon by putting them in the toaster. They started to smell funny as I got out the sausage and started to fry it, but it started smoking, so I poured water on it. For some reason the flames got even higher, and about that time the bacon flew from the toaster and knocked over the bowls of fruit I had got out, which is why the floor is covered with it."

Tsubaki picked up her foot and discovered the squashed grape under it. Looking across the floor, she discovered a variety of fruit everywhere. "H-how big were the fruit cups?" She stammered. Her meister showed her the bowls he had used.

"These." He said, causing his weapon partner to sigh tiredly.

"Black*Star, those are for popcorn. Those bowls are way too big to be used for fruit cups." Tsubaki murmured, and then glanced behind the blue-haired ninja. She stiffened abruptly. "Black*Star, you still need to extinguish that fire-!"

It was then that the entire oven caught fire, resulting in its spontaneous combustion. In other words…

"The whole thing blew up!" Black*star grinned as he related the story of what had happened. Maka was listening patiently.

"So we came to the mall to buy a new kitchen." Tsubaki smiled awkwardly.

"Yeah, because what wasn't blown up by the stove still became totaled because of how awesome my cooking is! That fridge just couldn't handle it!" The narcissistic ninja laughed.

"And the cabinets, and the table, and everything in the cabinets…" Tsubaki sighed, and then smiled again warmly. "But it's no problem. We've been saving up, so we should be able to pay for everything just fine!

"That's good." Maka said.

Tsubaki ruffled her meister's hair. "But I think we got lost trying to find the hardware store, and somehow we ended up in the basement…"

"We're not lost!" Black*Star protested loudly. "I just know that malls always have their best deals in the basement!"

The Shadow Weapon chuckled lightly. "Whatever you say."

"So what're _you_ doing in the basement, Maka?" The blue-haired meister asked. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were in a cell."

"We ARE in a cell." Maka grumbled. "Blair got us arrested." The girl pointed to her cat, who was still texting eagerly.

"Oh yeah. The pet store looked like it got blown up." Black*Star remarked.

"That was Blair's doing." Maka sighed. Black*Star shrugged boredly.

"Figured."

"So…" Tsubaki looked around. "Do you want us to try and find the keys?"

"Yes!" The blonde meister exclaimed. "Get me out of here!"

Blair put her hands on her hips after setting her phone down. "What about me? Don't I matter?" She snapped, transforming into her cat form and walking across the cell floor. She held her tail high haughtily as she slipped effortlessly through the bars. Maka's mouth hung open as she stared at the feline, who turned around and gave her an odd look. "What are you staring at? It's not like you've never seen my cat form before." She jumped upon the desk and pulled the keys from an open drawer. "Here are the keys, Blackie." She purred. "I saw the guard put the keys in there."

Black*Star, seeming slightly perturbed that he hadn't found the keys first, unlocked the door

Maka continued to stare at the girl. "You could've… Walked through the bars… And gotten the keys… This whole time?!" The girl exclaimed.

Blair tilted her head to the side. "Of course. You never asked."

* * *

The tires of Soul's bike screeched as he parked his bike before the entrance to the mall. Frantically the teen rushed inside, searching around for his meister. His eyes scanned the Saturday morning crowds, seeking out blonde pigtails, but they were nowhere to be seen. The scythe ran through the crowded building, shoving aside people in his haste.

"_How can I tell where they are?_" Soul thought, running every which way. "_I know Maka's first choice in the mall would be the bookstore, but she had Blair with her, and I don't think she'd dare take that cat in there._"

Soul paused and looked around. "Maka?" He called, his gaze sweeping the area for any sign of his meister.

"Maka?"

Soul whipped around. He hadn't spoken, yet he had heard his voice.

"Maka?" The imitator repeated, using Soul's voice. The scythe grinned.

"Figures I'd meet some sort of enemy here." He chuckled without turning around to look at the source of the voice. "Probably some sort of doppelganger Medusa sent after me." He assumed. As he spoke, the lower half of his arm became a scythe's blade. "But I have to warn you; you don't know who you're up against, even if you look like me. I'm training to be a Death Scythe. I've cut witches into pieces and nearly hacked a Kishin in half. I've endured more than you ever have and I'm strong because of it. I am the Soul Eater, and you're-!" He whipped around to face his foe.

"Maka?" Chirped the hyacinth macaw at the teen's feet. "Maka?"

Soul slumped over. "And you're just a parrot, aren't you?"

"Just a parrot." The bird repeated, flying to the top of Soul's head with loud wing beats. "I'm training to be a Death Scythe."

"Quit repeating what I say." Soul muttered, embarrassed. "People are staring."

"I've cut witches into pieces!"

"Shut up." Soul grumbled. "Stupid bird probably escaped from the pet store somehow."

"Stupid Soul Eater!" Squawked the macaw, now mixing up the words and phrases it had been taught. Soul ignored it as he searched around for the pet store. What he found was broken windows and pets running wild throughout the remains of the store. The entire thing was circled with police tape.

"What?!" Soul stared, while the parrot remained perched upon his head.

"Be free, critters!"

Soul paused, thinking he had heard Blair's voice, but he quickly realized that the voice was coming from the bird perched atop his head. "Oh look, catnip!"

Soul cringed. "So that's what happened…" He shuddered. "I'm glad I wasn't here to see what Blair would do with that stuff."

"Blair, put your clothes back on!" The parrot exclaimed. Soul's eyes widened.

"Thanks for that picture, parrot." He mumbled, thinking about where Maka would be if Blair had wrecked the pet shop and run around not wearing anything. Suddenly he facepalmed. "They got themselves arrested, didn't they?" He groaned, rushing to find an elevator.

"They got themselves arrested. Thanks for that picture." The bird mimicked loudly. Soul smiled slightly as he scratched the blue feathers of his companion's head.

"If you're going to stick with me, you need a name." He said. The hyacinth macaw leaned over and looked Soul in the eye upside-down.

"Name." He chirped as the elevator doors opened. Soul strode in, looking over the buttons to control the device. There was no button for the basement, but a lock. Soul bent down, trying to pick the lock as he shifted one of his fingers into a small blade, but the parrot inserted his beak and swiftly had it unlocked as the elevator began to move downward. Soul chuckled.

"Annoying at times, but smart." He said. "I think I've got your name."

As soon as the elevator door opened, Soul took off running again. The sound of his meister's enraged yelling could be heard throughout the hallway, and the scythe raced to it, his bird hanging on tight.

"AND FURTHERMORE, BLAIR, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE EVEN BEEN DUMB ENOUGH TO GET US ARRESTED IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Maka continued to scream at the cat, which simply covered her ears in a bored manner and was used to these high-volume lectures.

Soul entered then entered. "Maka!" He exclaimed, reminded of the urgency at hand. The blonde meister turned to glare at him.

"What?" She snapped. "I knew you'd leave Crona to move his stuff on his own! Did you even clean your room?" She exclaimed, her temper high. However, Soul kept his calm air, knowing how to interact with her while she was in this state.

"No, Maka." He said calmly. "Medusa came in and attacked us…"

"What a lame excuse!" Maka yelled. "We killed that witch a while ago!"

"Um, Maka?" Tsubaki said quietly. "If Soul had left Crona alone for no reason, do you think he would've come all this way to tell you?"

Maka paused, the anger in her expression fading as it turned to fear. "Soul," She said slowly, "What happened to Crona?"

The scythe's gaze turned to the ground in shame. "He… He got possessed by Medusa. I don't know where he is now."

Maka stiffened.

"Wow." Black*Star threw in his comment. "Tough."

Soul raised an eyebrow upon noticing his friend. "How'd you get down here? The elevator was locked."

"It was?" Black*Star wondered. "I just punched a bunch of buttons and it got us down here."

Soul rolled his eyes. "Nice."

Black*Star stood and pointed at the parrot. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, I remember that bird!" Blair purred. "I chased him around the store! He looks tasty!"

Soul glared at the cat. "Sokka's not for eating." He snapped.

"You named the bird after a TV show character?" Tsubaki asked.

"Why wouldn't he?" Black*Star said. "It's an awesome show."

"Soul." Maka scowled at her partner. "This is not the time to be discussing cartoons." She snapped. "We need to go find Crona."

Soul nodded. "I know."

Black*Star grinned. "Count me in! No way I'm gonna miss out on a big adventure like this!"

"This is NOT an adventure." The blonde meister retorted. "This is an urgent mission to save a friend." She stormed out the door.

Black*Star shrugged. "I don't care. I'm still not missing out. C'mon, Tsubaki." He said, following Maka, and the two weapons followed suit.

"Hey Maka," Soul said. "Can Sokka come too?"

"I'm training to be a Death Scythe!" The bird in question chirped. Blair watched them go, licking her paw.

"This'll be interesting." She purred. "But I think I'll wait to hear the story later instead of joining in."

* * *

Kid blinked, trying to make sense of everything. Anything. There was a light above him, but it's glare prevented him from seeing much else. However, after trying to move, he quickly realized he was tied down by his wrists and ankles, and was missing his shirt. "Patty!" He called. "What kind of sick joke is this?"

"Oh, it's not a joke." Stein stepped forward from the darkness. "It's a dream." He picked a sharpie up from a desk lined with operating instruments. "A dream where I get to dissect a Grim Reaper."

Kid's eyes widened. "What are you talking about, Professor? This isn't a dream! This is real!" He exclaimed as the mad doctor marked incision lines on his chest.

"He's trying to confuse you, Stein." Crona emerged from behind the doctor, bearing Medusa's voice. "And he's wrong. This is all a dream." She chuckled. "Now remember, Stein. Keep him alive."

"I'll try as best I can." The silver-haired meister grinned sadistically. Kid stared at the man he thought he knew as the latter brought the scalpel down.

_BOOM_

Stein coughed, wiping smoke from his glasses. "What happened?" He questioned as the smoke cleared.

Medusa stared. "The Reaper's gone!" She shouted. "What did you do?!"

Stein examined the dust left behind. "Dust and smoke…" He thought out loud, then clenched his fist. "That wasn't the real Death the Kid. It was a clone."

Crona's eyes stared at the doctor. "What?"

"I said it was a clone." Stein repeated. "A fake Kid. The clone was simplistic, at best. The process that made it perfectly copied Kid's brainwaves, appearance, and behavior, but it copied it as a whole. If just one of those parts was tampered with, the system would've been set off balance." He mumbled. "This thing would've blown up like that if he had simply gotten a paper cut."

Medusa's gaze hardened. "Then the real Kid's still out there." Crona stalked out the door. "I'll find him and bring him back for you, professor." She gripped the doorframe before she left. This wasn't part of her plan, but obviously some genius had predicted this happening and had created multiple Kids to defend against it. But she'd get around it. She always did.

* * *

**Chapter 5 complete, everypony! :D Be back soon, same Bat Time, same Bat channel!**


	6. Frenemy: Friend Possessed By Enemy

**I'm running out of witty introductions. I think I'll stop rambling and just get to the story from now on. *I disclaim* By the way, there's going to be a MAJOR spoiler in this chapter for those who haven't finished the show. Just to warn you.**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 6**

**Frenemy: Friend Possessed By Enemy**

* * *

There are plenty of people who look like potential criminals, and one would think that any potential criminal would have no issue carrying out the act of kidnapping. On top of that, any kidnapper would love to get their grubby hands on the child of possibly the richest being in the world, so the fortune could become theirs. That is why it is difficult to single out such a person who would kidnap the son of the Grim Reaper, as it could be virtually anyone.

"You, look around the mall. You, look within the alleys." A Kid said, having given himself the authority to lead the task of finding their missing "brother".

"Who put you in charge?" One asked. "Why can't I be in charge?" He snatched the list the first Kid was reading off of out of his hands. "I'm giving out orders!"

"Who died and made you Grim Reaper?" Another objected. "I'm the original! I should be in charge!"

"Are my clones all dunces? I'M obviously the original!"

"No you're not, I am!"

"Stop this! Of course I'm the original, not either of you!"

"I'm the original, you asymmetrical pieces of junk!"

The Kids fell silent. "You went too far with that one." One's lip quivered.

"Sorry." The Kid who had voiced the insult murmured.

"Maybe we should take this matter to Dad." One suggested. "Then we could stop arguing about who was in charge and just go to him."

"Dad has more important things to worry about than his now eight sons."

"Maybe seven." One gulped, and the others shuddered.

"Let's try not to think about that."

"But what if he was the original?" Another worried. "Dad would put that as his top priority."

"Then maybe we should just go look for him ourselves." Said yet another. "It'd take too long to get to the Academy and back."

"Then we're in agreement?"

"Yes. We go and find the other Kid first and trouble Dad later."

"Agreed." All said in unison. One chuckled.

"Isn't Democracy fun?"

* * *

Crona couldn't react to the things around him as Medusa remained in control of his body. At first he could see blurry outline of things, but soon his vision faded entirely into black. His whole body felt numb. If there was a living death, he thought, this was it. He dwelled on the only thing he could react to; his memories. However, the memory of losing himself to his mother was the one that remained most fresh on his mind, and he still hated it.

It had been a familiar scene, as Crona's mind often drifted to that beach when he was alone with his thoughts. Maka's smile and caring touch and brought water to that dry land, and now it was a happier place to be. Or at least it had been.

The young personification of Crona drew doodles in the sand with his stick. He didn't know what had happened. One moment he was seated next to his friend Soul, fighting off Medusa, and the next he was here. He didn't mind, though. That monster that was his mother couldn't hurt him here. Here he'd be safe and alone.

"Hello, Crona."

Crona's pale eyes shot upward, staring at the intruding form of Medusa.

"N-no!" The child exclaimed, backing away from her. "T-this is my special place! You c-can't be here!"

His reaction caused the woman to laugh wickedly. "Well, I'm afraid I am."

Crona's eyes were frantic as the water behind his mother began to recede. "No!" He shouted, running past his grinning mother to try and chase after the fading waves. "My ocean! You're taking my ocean!" He cried, falling to his knees.

"Something wrong, dear?" Medusa crooned, still grinning. Crona shook, turning around to face her.

"H-how did you get here? Why did you take my ocean?" He whimpered.

"You see, I'm in your head." Medusa replied. "And I'm in control now."

Tears welled in Crona's eyes as he buried his face in his hands. "B-but I thought I'd be safe here! This was where you could never hurt me!" He sobbed.

He looked up from his hands, seeing the bare feet that belonged to his mother. The Snake Witch knelt down so she could look her child in the eye. "What's the matter? Didn't you miss me?"

"No!" He shouted again. "I didn't miss you at all! You tortured me! You starved me! You forced me to hurt things! You shut me away for days! I HATE YOU!" The boy screamed. Medusa's smirk fell from her face and became a look of indifference.

"Really? You hate me?" She huffed. "After I gave birth to you? Raised you? Fed you? Gave you a roof over your head?"

Crona shook. "Well, I wish I'd never been born! And you didn't raise me, you tortured me! I was only fed if I killed something you wanted me to!" His voice raised even more with every statement until he was screaming at the top of his lungs. "AND AS FOR A ROOF OVER MY HEAD, YOU LEFT ME OUT IN THE COLD RAIN PLENTY OF TIMES FOR 'SURVIVAL TRAINING'!" His tears were flowing freely now, causing small dots to appear in the sand below him.

Medusa sighed. "Crona dear, it was all for your own good. You're strong. You can endure anything thrown at you and survive it. You can go for days without eating."

Crona sniffed. "If you like what I do so much," He whimpered. "Then why did you never tell me… You were proud of me?"

Medusa's gaze hardened. "Because I'm not." She snapped, standing up straight again. "You are so much less than you could be. You're still a failure as my servant and soldier. You're an ungrateful rebellious brat."

Crona looked up at his mother, his tear-filled eyes still sparking with defiance. "Maka told me that Moms don't have kids so they can be servants. She says they have kids so they can love them."

Medusa snorted. "And this came from the girl who never even sees her mother? Any love there? All love's fake!" She snapped, but couldn't prevent the image of a certain sadistic scientist coming to her mind at the mention of the word "love". "_It's not the time for that._" She told herself. "_I can worry about him later._" "Do you think you would've become as strong as you are if you had been raised simply on love?" She added.

Crona shook his head. "No." He said. "Even stronger."

Medusa resisted the urge to lose her temper at the child, and instead retained her calm demeanor. "Fine then." She knelt next to her son once more. "Then I'll just have to kill all your loved ones. _Using your body._"

Crona's eyes widened as the boy screamed again in horror. He swiftly blocked his mind off to that now desert, wishing to simply remain in a living darkness than with that witch, that scourge of his existence that had invaded his mind and was now going to destroy everything he loved.

* * *

"No, you cannot keep the parrot!" Maka snapped.

"C'mon!" Soul groaned. "I let you keep Crona!"

Black*Star and Tsubaki watched the two argue as they ran. "Where do you think we should start looking for Crona?" The young ninja questioned of his partner, who shrugged.

"I have no idea. Would you like me to be in weapon form just in case?" The Shadow Weapon asked, and her meister nodded with his signature grin.

"Sure. Shuriken form."

Tsubaki nodded as her form changed to that of a large throwing star that Black*Star now held, while Maka turned away from Soul in exasperation.

"Honestly, Soul. We already have a cat. Do we really need a bird?"

"We didn't _need_ a cat." Soul retorted.

"That's not the point! She came to us!"

"Well so did Sokka!"

"I hope you're willing to clean up after it and pay for its food." Maka mumbled.

"Of course." Soul assured her. He looked around. "Do we even know where we're going?"

"Yes." Maka replied. "We're looking for Crona."

"But he could be anywhere!"

"But I can still sense his soul in the city." The blonde replied.

"Nake Snake." Sokka said.

Soul froze. "Did you hear him say that?

Maka shrugged. "He's just making up sounds."

Soul shook his head. "He only says what he hears. He must've heard someone say that while we were arguing."

"Cobra cobra." Sokka added as the ground beneath them began to shake. Soul's eyes widened as he pulled Maka out of the way of the black pulsing arrow that grew out of the ground, right where the young meister had been standing.

"Aw. You dodged. But I suppose it's for the best. This'll be much more fun if you fight back." Medusa said, but was presently using Crona's voice rather than her own. The young meister stood right behind the group, holding Ragnarok in both hands.

Maka stiffened, staring at her friend. "Crona?" She murmured as she began to walk towards the pink-haired meister, but Soul grabbed her arm.

"Don't you dare." He growled. "That's Medusa under there, remember? She'll try and kill you if you get close." He told her sternly, but he found his partner shaking.

"T-that's Crona… Not Medusa…" She whimpered.

"No," Soul whispered. "No, Maka. Look at his eyes. Those aren't Crona's ."

Maka gazed at the boy's eyes, which were now a more sinister shade of gold.

"He's right, you know." Medusa smirked, now using her own voice. "I was trying to target your weakness. But brave Soul stepped in and saved the day." She laughed. "Crona's got his memories closed off to me, but in the time that I've been gone, I'd have to assume you two were an item."

Soul glared at the boy. "What does it matter to you?" He snapped.

"So it's true." Medusa laughed. "Soul and Maka. Meister and weapon." She chuckled one more time. "What a cliché." She charged forward, holding Ragnarok out. The two groups of partners dodged her attack, and Soul's body began to glow with the energy he used to change into his scythe form.

"No, Soul." Maka murmured.

Soul stared at his meister. "Are you out of your mind? You need a weapon, Maka!" He snapped, his handle flying into her hand anyway. But instead of gripping his hilt, Maka simply dropped her scythe. Soul was stunned. "What are you doing?! Fight back! That witch'll kill you!"

Maka shook. "But she's using Crona's body, Soul. I can't hurt him." She said as Black*Star held the posessed boy off.

Soul groaned in aggravation. "Then use Genie Hunter! It won't hurt him!" He yelled at her, his voice sounding slightly metallic due to him being in his weapon form.

"But that didn't work." She whispered. "She'll be stronger now that she survived it once. She might even have the ability to redirect the atack. She could kill Crona." She turned her head down to look at Soul. "I can't do it."

Meanwhile, Black*Star repeatedly threw Tsubaki at Crona, but every time the boy dodged. "You're not getting anywhere with tossing a throwing star at me." Medusa taunted.

The blue-haired boy growled in agitation. "Fine!" Black*Star shouted. "You want hand-to-hand combat? You'll get it! Chain Scythe, Tsubaki!" He commanded.

"Right!" The Shadow Weaon replied as her form shifted in the hands of her meister to become the Kusarigama Black*Star demanded for. The young ninja charged forward, slashing at Crona openly.

"Black*Star, no!" Maka exclaimed, rushing forward and standing in front of Crona protectively. "You can't hurt him!" She cried.

"Maka, move!" Soul exclaimed as his form gained its human appearance once more.

"Thanks for protecting me, Maka." Medusa used Crona's voice once again. "You're a good friend."

Maka was about to turn around and confront her friend, but she froze suddenly as she let out a gasp of pain. Crona grinned maniacally as Ragnarok's blade seemed to grow out of the blonde's chest.

"MAKA!" Soul yelled as Crona pulled his blade from the back of the scythe meister.

"That was almost too easy." Medusa used her own voice once again as Soul grabbed his partner before she hit the ground. He rushed to bring her away from Medusa, checking for a pulse. The girl's blood seeped through the frantic teen's fingers.

Black*Star glared at the Snake Witch as he ran at her again. "You'll pay for that!" He exclaimed, striking repeatedly at the boy's arm. Medusa chuckled as none of the blows pierced her son's skin.

"You forgot about Crona's hardened blood." She whirled Ragnarok around, catching Black*Star's own arm. However, the young ninja barely seemed to notice the blood streaming from just above his elbow as he continued to pelt Crona with various attacks.

Meanwhile, Soul knelt next to Maka. The latter's chest barely rose and fell with breath as the former shook her frantically. "Come on, Maka! Get up!" The scythe snapped. "You shouldn't have gotten in front of Crona like that! Y-you idiot!" His voice broke as he tried desperately to get his partner to move. Using harsh words to mask his fear, the teen continued to shout at his meister.

And then without any warning the girl stood. She had not stirred or opened her eyes or even uttered a sound. She just stood there. Soul stared at her, not moving as well. "Maka?" He whispered. "What's happening?"

His meister didn't reply as her eyes opened. However, they were pale and unfocused. Soul watched in shock as she held out her arms, and suddenly his eyes stared at her as if she had grown blades.

She had.

Two long, silver blades had grown out of Maka's wrists, their edges curving over her hands but not low enough to pierce them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Black*Star witnessed the blonde's transformation. "HOLY-!" The next word he said was blocked out by the clang of Tsubaki clashing with Ragnarok. But this distraction lasted just long enough for Medusa to knock him to the side.

"I don't need to kill you unless you want me to. Currently my only targets are Marie, Soul and..." The witch was cut off as the silver blade of the pig-tailed girl wrapped around her neck. "Maka?!" She exclaimed. The girl's lifeless eyes stared at her, unblinking. "_She's... A scythe?! And fighting me subconsciously?!_" The witch stared at her as Maka's grip tightened. "_She's not holding back... She really will kill me._" As this realization hit her, Crona began choking again. The snake that was Medusa quickly slithered out of his mouth and down his body before retreating into some nearby bushes. "_I'll get back to Stein. I should have enough energy to reproduce my own form now._" She thought as she traveled back to the professor's lab.

Crona's eyes returned to their original pale grey as he let out a faint gasp as he dropped to the ground, curling into a ball and shaking from the trauma of the experience.

Black*Star dove into the bushes. "Where are ya, ya stupid snake!" The blue-haired narcissist yelled, his back end and legs dangling out the top of the bush.

Maka stood there for another moment, unblinking, before the her blades glowed and retreated back into her arms. The girl fell forward again, and once again her partner rushed to catch her. The boy's mind was churning with thoughts and emotions as he held his unconscious meister in his strong arms.

"_Maka's a scythe._"

"_Medusa's still out there._"

"_Maka's a scythe._"_  
_

"_Crona might need therapy._"

"_Maka's a scythe._"

"_Maka doesn't need me anymore._"

* * *

**6th chapter's done. How you like? :3 More to come.**


	7. Diamond Sword and Silver Scythe

**Thanks for all the reviews! :D Those last few made my day. It's really encouraging to know that people actually wanna know what happens. :3 *Hands out digital cookie to all reviewers, followers and favorite… ers…* My friend ~Adlez~ supplied another idea for this, and I thank her for that. I was seriously at a loss.**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 7**

**Diamond Sword and Silver Scythe**

* * *

Many people enjoy a good twist of drama into a plotline. Some don't, but it all depends on your opinion. Sometimes, however, dramatic events need to be soothed, eased, or lessened to not put too much stress upon the reader. When such is the case, there's a theatrical element that many authors and playwrights put into play. The aforementioned theme is referred to as "comedy relief". You have probably heard of it. And now, cue such comedy relief.

"Hey! Who stole my camera?"

Soul picked his head up. He had been resting it against Maka's, much like his meister had done when he had been rendered unconscious.

"That bird stole my camera!"

The scythe turned to face the creature, a dark being that stole the voices of its victims. "Sokka?" He murmured.

The parrot sat atop a small digital camera, balancing perfectly on the upright piece of technology. He then imitated perfectly the sound produced by the camera when it successfully captured a photograph.

"You took a picture with that thing?" Soul asked, not moving from Maka's side, but more than a little interested in the bird's antics.

Sokka proceeded to produce the same sound repeatedly, indicating that Soul was partly correct.

"Lots of pictures?" The teen questioned as Sokka picked up the item in his talons and dropped it in Soul's hand. He looked over the system's contents, and first discovered pictures of a couple be didn't know. "On a stolen camera." He sighed. The silver-haired weapon continued to scroll through the various pictures, and froze when he encountered a certain collection.

"Maka? What's happening?" Sokka chirped Soul's words.

The scythe stared rigidly at the images before him. Most were of Maka's weapon transformation, while a few were of the back of Black*Star's head.

"I can't find the snake!" The blue-haired ninja yelled. "But there's a sewer grate back here. She might've crawled in there. Hey, a dollar!"

"Black*Star, you need to get out of the bushes!" The boy's weapon partner reprimanded him.

Soul's red eyes gazed around the cobblestone street. It was small, and deserted save for their small band of meisters and weapons. The area was walled on two sides by the backs of stores and apartment buildings, with a few hedges. The other two ends of the lane were open and lead to more populated walkways, but the citizens of such a bizarre city had learned to treat chaotic battles as normal, but still potentially dangerous, so they didn't stare but avoided them, and no one had seen the fight against the possessed boy as anything out of the ordinary. That fact eased his mind; no one had witnessed Maka's transformation save for their selective group.

"S-soul?"

Soul's gaze jerked down to the form of his meister. "Maka?" He sighed with relief. "You're awake."

"Of course I'm awake." Maka mumbled. "Were you expecting me to not wake up?"

Soul stiffened. "Don't talk like that." He snapped.

"Sorry." Maka murmured. She then smiled warmly. "I meant it as a joke. No need to cry over it, softy."

"I wasn't crying." The scythe muttered. "I was worried about you. That was a really bad wound. And you're still bleeding. I pressed your coat to the injury, and I think it helped a little bit."

Maka smiled a little. "That's good."

"But you still need proper help." Soul told her. "I can only do so much. We need to take you back to the academy; Naigus can help you."

Black*Star finally pulled his head out of the bush, the boy's blue hair covered with small green leaves. "Oh yeah. We need to get Maka healed, don't we?" He said, standing and stretching as Tsubaki's form changed back into that of a human.

"Black*Star, you've got leaves all in your hair…" She sighed, picking them from his hair one by one as Soul picked Maka up. The young ninja grinned.

"Well who cares about that? Maka's awesomeness in that battle nearly outshone my own! I have some competition!" The boy exclaimed, pounding his left hand with his right fist threateningly, but was still grinning at his jest. Maka, however, looked confused.

"What does he mean? I didn't fight at all." The young meister murmured. Soul glared at his blue-haired friend, silently telling him to not bring up the matter.

"Until she's more stable." The scythe mouthed, and then turned back to the blonde. "We'll tell you later. Right now you need to get healed up."

"What about Crona?" Maka asked as Soul picked her up.

Soul glanced down at the aforementioned boy, the latter still curled up. The young Gorgon was shaking uncontrollably, his bony hands gripping his head as his eyes stared, wide and pale, at the ground.

"My ocean… She took my ocean…" He murmured incoherently. "She's at my beach… She's going to hurt me…"

Maka looked sympathetic. "We can't just leave him."

Tsubaki knelt down next to the pink-haired meister. "We'll get him back to your house." She reassured her friend. "And I'll give him a hot chocolate and a blanket. Try and calm him down." The Dark Arm smiled sweetly.

Maka nodded. "Thanks, Tsubaki." She whispered as her head drifted to its exhausted position against Soul's chest. The girl's eyelids closed once again as she passed out from blood loss. His own eyes wide, Soul rushed his partner to the Academy.

* * *

Soul stroked his meister's hair from her face a few hours later. The girl was sleeping calmly, a side effect of the painkillers she had received.

The living scythe stood from his position on his couch. He had requested to take Maka home and let her rest there, believing she would be more comfortable at her own apartment. In addition, it was much easier for Soul to guard her while she was here. He had to fight to stay with her in the dispensary before, and he didn't feel like repeating the scene.

Tsubaki walked in from the hallway. "I put Crona in his bed in the closet with a warm blanket, and he already finished the hot chocolate." She waved the empty mug. "I think he'll be okay."

"Yeah, if 'okay' means he keeps talking about oceans and snakes." Black*Star huffed, emerging from behind his weapon. "I can't make any sense of that guy."

"So he's still muttering." Soul sighed. "Maka's not going to be happy."

"She won't be happy if she hears the stampede coming this way, either." Blair stretched from her position on Maka's lap.

"Stampede!" Sokka repeated, sitting calmly on a blade of the slowly rotating ceiling fan above their heads.

"What stampede?" Soul muttered, grabbing a can of soda from the fridge.

"I can hear a stampede with my kitty ears!" Blair purred.

Soul rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right." He said, sipping his drink. Then the stampede of perfectionist reapers busted through the door, causing Soul to spit his mouthful of soda at Black*Star in shock.

"Kid?!" The scythe exclaimed, staring at the seven Shinigamis.

"Oh, hey Soul. You haven't seen another me have you?" One spoke up as the others scoured the apartment.

"Uh… No…" Soul's eye twitched. "But there are six others here…"

"Oh I'm not talking about them. I know where they are. We're looking for the eighth one." The Kid explained. "We don't know where he went and we're afraid he might've been kidnapped."

"Well he's not here." Soul mumbled, but then stiffened as two Kids attempted to pick Maka up so a third could look under her. "Don't you dare!" He swatted the small group away. "She's hurt, and why in the heck would we be keeping another Kid _under _her?!"

The Kids looked thoughtful. "True. But why is she unconscious on the couch?" They asked, causing Soul to sigh.

"Long story." He began. As he told the listening Kids what happened, he conveniently left out the part of Maka's transformation to discourage future questions, saying instead that Medusa fled because she deemed Crona's body too weak.

"I took Maka to the Academy to get her injury wrapped up, and then I asked if I could take her back here." The scythe concluded. The Kids nodded.

"Good. But I think that we should discuss a battle strategy." They said as they stood from their symmetrical positions on the floor.

"Battle strategy?" Soul wondered, following them to the kitchen table.

"It seems as if you need help bringing down Medusa." One Kid pointed out.

"So we'd like to help you." Added one.

"And in addition," Yet another continued, "We have reason to believe that it might've been Medusa who kidnapped Number Eight. Therefore it would be beneficial to us to aid you."

"Fine." Soul sighed as he pulled a map of the city from a junk drawer next to the kitchen sink.

"Excellent." The Kids all smiled in unison, laying out the map.

"Now, there are a few strategic locations for Medusa to hide in." A Kid began. "One, the Academy. If you say she slithered into the sewer, she might climb in through anywhere."

"It might be a good idea to ask Dad to hire an exterminator." One Kid proposed.

"Good point." Another said. "But another place she could hide would be the abandoned warehouse on 5th street. Plenty of snakes live there."

"Yes, but she might go and try to influence Stein again." Pointed out another. "We should go make sure he's okay."

"I say we burn down the village!"

All heads turned to Black*Star. "What?!" They all exclaimed, including Tsubaki, who had been observing the Kids' plan.

"I said burn down the village!" The young ninja repeated himself. "If we burn down the village, then the zombies can't turn the villagers into zombies!"

"He's gone mad!" A Kid pointed accusingly at the boy, while Soul stormed over to the blue-haired narcissist and stood directly in front of the television.

"Black*Star, get off my Xbox!" The scythe yelled. "We're trying to hunt down a deadly witch and you're playing Minecraft? _On my account_?! How'd you even get on?"

"I got you a Diamond Sword." The boy grinned as if that answered all the scythe's questions. Soul paused.

"Save, then get off." He mumbled, moving out of the way.

"Darn it." Black*Star muttered. "Your Diamond Sword just got blown up by a Creeper while your butt was in the way of the screen." He said, turning off the system as Soul growled in aggravation.

"Great."

"Why are there seven Kids in the house? Am I delusional?" Maka groaned as she woke up as a result of all the yelling. Soul sighed and went over to her.

"I have no idea why there are seven Kids and I'm afraid to ask. But no, you're not delusional. Just go back to sleep." The scythe told his meister. The girl attempted to sit up as Blair jumped off her lap.

"No, I want to get up." The blonde slurred. "I'm tired of sitting here like a useless lump on the couch."

"Maka, you need rest." Soul told her, trying to gently push her back down, but Maka pulled his hand away.

"Let me get up, Soul." She said in her commanding tone that Soul knew not to argue with.

As Maka stood with her partner's help, Tsubaki turned to Kid. "By the way, why are there seven of you?" She asked.

"Because we're missing the eighth one." A Kid told her.

"Oh…" Tsubaki nodded, but was still confused. "Well… Why were there eight of you?"

"Patty cloned us." Another Kid replied.

"Oh." Tsubaki nodded once again and decided not to ask any further.

Maka looked around at everyone and began to feel dizzy again. "Too many people…" She groaned, pressing her palm to her forehead as if she was trying to physically press down a headache.

Soul turned to glare at the other current occupants of the apartment. "You heard her! She's feeling crowded! Everybody out!" He snapped.

Black*Star grumbled something about Creepers as Tsubaki gently took his shoulder and led her partner into the hallway. The seven Kids followed. "We'll be in the hall." One said as they closed the door after everyone was out. Including Blair.

Soul felt proud of himself for getting everyone out before Maka slapped him in the back of the head. "Your yelling is not helping my headache." The blonde meister muttered as she pushed away from Soul's support and sat down at the kitchen table. The scythe was simply glad that she had no book handy, or it wouldn't have been her palm that collided with his skull.

"Is it the medicine that's making me like this?" Maka wondered. "I usually don't have problems with a lot of people in the house."

"Probably." Soul replied, walking over to the counter. "Or maybe it was the seven Kids. That'd be enough to confuse anybody." He said as his gaze turned to glance at his meister. "You want something warm to drink, like coffee or hot chocolate?"

Maka shot him a cold look. "You don't need to baby me just because I got hurt." She snapped.

"I'm not babying you." Soul retorted. "I just asked if you wanted something to drink."

"Give it a few minutes and you'll be asking me if I want a pillow and a foot bath." The girl mumbled. She crossed her arms on the table and leaned over so her tired head rested in her arms. She glared at the wall for a few seconds like this, until she muttered almost incomprehensively; "I'll have a hot chocolate."

"Yes milady." Soul chuckled, which earned him a book thrown at his head. It was Maka's turn to chuckle then as her partner groaned in pain.

"Quit acting stupid or I'll come over there and hit you." She smirked, but in a joking way, as Soul rubbed his head.

"Where did you even pull that book from?" He winced in pain, and then put Maka's drink in the microwave to heat it up. "You nearly knocked your chocolate over."

"So-ry." Maka mumbled as her eye caught the camera across the table. As she wondered who the item belonged to, Sokka informed her.

"Hey! Who stole my camera?"

"Quiet, Sokka." Soul said, watching the microwave. "You'll give Maka a headache." He added. The scythe simply stood there as he watched the chocolate drink go in circles upon the microwave's turntable. He focused his eyes upon it, not wanting to glance behind him at the girl he had failed to protect. The girl who had nearly died because of him. Unbeknownst to him, he was thinking the exact same thoughts that Maka had thought when her partner was nearly killed by Crona's blade.

"_I failed_."

"_I failed to protect her. I should've been there. It should be me lying in bandages and sulking around the kitchen. _I_ should've been the scythe to scare Medusa off._" He thought, watching the hot drink turn in endless circles. Just like his thoughts.

He began to picture himself in that cup, trying to relax in the warmth of his feelings for Maka. But the world began to spin around him, dizzying him as everything turned on its head. All this time the drink grew hotter. His feelings were escalating because of the hardship around him and how much he realized they needed each other. But yet the world continued to spin, and while that meant that life went on for the two companions, it also meant that life would bring new trials. New surprises. Now shocks. Just continual spinning until he wouldn't be able to take it anymore.

"Soul?"

Maka's voice jolted the scythe out of his vision.

"W-what is this?"

Her voice was shaking. It shouldn't be shaking. That meant she was scared. If she was scared, then it was his job to be by her side and comfort her, not daydreaming about microwaveable hot chocolate.

"What Maka?" He asked, striding to his meister quickly and putting a strong hand on her small shoulder. "What's wrong?" He murmured, but froze as he discovered the answer to his question. He wished he hadn't as he stared at the digital camera in Maka's hands. On the screen on the back, for all the world to see, was a picture of Maka's half-scythe form with her blade around Crona's neck.

"Soul." Maka timidly spoke her partner's name again. "Please tell me this is Photoshop." She shook, silently begging for her assumption to be true. Any minute now Soul would burst out laughing at his joke, and the nearest dictionary would hit his head. But no such laugh came as the girl's dread continued to rise.

"N… No, Maka." Soul said slowly. "That really happened." He looked down at his partner's terrified eyes. He wanted to lie to her, to tell her that it was a stupid prank pulled by Black*Star.

But he couldn't.

He wanted to wipe that fear and shock from her face, to embrace her and tell her she was just another human, albeit an exceptionally cool meister.

But he didn't.

"Your Mom's human, but your Dad's a scythe." Soul sighed before continuing; "You're half scythe."

Maka's heart pounded as she stared at the table. At nearly sixteen, she had believed she had herself and her future figured out. She was going to be the best meister in the world. She was going to make Soul a far greater Death Scythe than her Papa. She was going to become a legendary Scythe Meister. She had all her pieces perfectly in place, ready to call out checkmate over her achievements and life.

But all the players on the chessboard toppled over as a new piece was introduced. This set everything off balance, and what she thought was a surefire win soon looked doubtful. She'd have to rearrange her pieces to include the new one, and she wasn't sure if she could do that. She might have to cut one out of the battle plan, but she couldn't do that. Her fists clenched as she turned these agitated thoughts over and over in her mind.

Soul pulled up a chair and sat next to her, putting his hand over hers comfortingly. "What are you going to do?" He asked quietly. Maka shook her head.

"I don't know. I'm just confused." She murmured.

Soul sighed. He was out of options. They both needed comfort, reassurance that whatever they did, it would be together. That they'd never be apart. The scythe leaned in towards her as he gently turned his meister's face to him. He drew nearer, slightly disappointed in himself for doing something so 'uncool and sappy', but he pushed the thought out of his mind.

However, this wasn't a fairy tale.

Soul's fantasy was quickly extinguished as Maka jerked away before their lips met. "What are you doing?!" She snapped. "I just said I was confused!" She pushed him away, burying her face in her arms upon the table once again. "Just leave me alone."

Soul looked hurt as he stood. He glanced at his meister once more before he walked out the door and into the hallway, hoping that he might be distracted from his churning emotions by whatever chaos had been caused by seven symmetry-obsessed Reapers, a narcissist ninja, a Shadow Weapon, and a commonly-undressed cat.

* * *

Those that argue that a snake can cough should've been listening in to the sounds emerging from the Death City sewer as a particular snake climbed from the filthy water and out of a drainage pipe near Stein's home.

"_Never again._" Medusa hissed, still gagging and coughing. Some of the contaminated water had gotten in her mouth, and the Snake Witch betted that she'd be tasting that horrible filth for the next week. Sliding through a crack in the wall, she entered the professor's laboratory.

It was then that she attempted a new spell. A dangerous one, and if she failed it could destroy her soul.

"_Oh well._" She thought. _"It's all or nothing._"

Her snake body began to twist as she attempted to transform it. It was an odd sight to witness; thankfully Stein was nowhere to be seen, or he would've probably dissected her on the spot. Because Medusa, despite being a powerful witch, had never fully transformed from a snake to a human, so for a brief second she appeared to be a deformed snake with limbs. But her body continued to change as her scales became skin and the black outfit to cover it. The length of her snout shrunk until it spilt into a nose and lips. All the while her form grew larger. And as her fangs became teeth, the witch flashed the most disturbing and insane grin in history.

Stein strode into his lab, switching on the light dispassionately. His eyes then met with the alluring golden ones of the witch sitting upon the examination table with her legs crossed in front of her.

"Hello, Stein." Purred Medusa. "I'm back."

* * *

**Yay metaphors XD Sorry this chapter's so late! Blame my Dad and the ever busy month of December. As to Maka's injury being fine in an hour, it's happened in the show, if you may recall, so don't start saying it's unrealistic. Because it is. LOL See ya'll next chapter!**


	8. Dungeons and Dragons

**I'm dedicating this chapter to Kid in honor of it being number 8. :3 I disclaim. I own not Soul Eater nor the song I quote near the end.**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 8**

**Dungeons and Dragons**

* * *

A snake's scales do not grow with the creature's anatomy, but a typical snake continues to grow its entire life. As a result, snakes shed their skin regularly. This process is to expose the new, brighter, harder, better scales underneath. But a particular scientist had just discovered that one snake in particular didn't shed its skin, but changed it altogether.

"Yes, it's me." Medusa smirked. "With my own body. I think the transformation spell worked very nicely." She said, looking herself over. "Even down to the nail polish." She chuckled as she saw her black nails with the small yellow arrow design on them.

Stein just stood there. He had just managed to process the fact that Medusa looked like Crona in this insane dream, but now she looked entirely different. He shook his head in confusion after a while.

"What's wrong, Stein?" The Snake Witch crooned, walking over to the scientist. His wide and shifting eyes watched the ground as he shrugged. Medusa gently placed her hand under his chin and tilted it upwards. "Do you still want to dissect your Reaper? Is that what's wrong?" She murmured. She knew exactly what was bothering him; when she put her hand to the doctor's chest she could feel his heart pounding. She wrapped her arms around his neck, then slowly whispered into his ear; "Or is it me?"

It was strange to feel these emotions running through her head. She had felt them before long ago, but she had been forced to kill the man that held her heart to get him to give it back. And although she had found a use for that pathetic child they had, she had resolved to never feel that way towards anyone again. Nevertheless, that ridiculous scientist had to begin working at the exact same school she was spying on. She resolved to ignore him as she carried out her plan; however, upon the eve of her final victory, he has swept her off her feet, quite literally. And then she realized her desire.

It was bad enough that she found herself in the terrible position of love once again, but on top of that she was in love with the man who believed he had killed her. And this time was different; this man didn't return her affections, unless he was under certain conditions.

Medusa smirked once again, mulling over her reason for driving Stein mad multiple times.

"_He only loves me when he's insane._"

The Snake Witch released her hold around Stein as she backed up. "We'll get you your Reaper, Stein. I promise." She smiled, pretending to be ignorant and not notice the true reason for his shakiness.

The professor nodded as he watched Medusa leave the room, her arrow-shaped tail twitching behind her. He sighed, flopping down into the nearest lab chair. Suddenly he began to grin, and then burst out laughing manically. "If this is a dream," He slurred through fits of laughter, "I never wanna wake up!"

Medusa chuckled as she heard Stein's shout of acclamation. She was glad that he now accepted this 'dream world', as she called it; no matter how much madness was required to get him to feel that way.

"The more insanity, the better." The witch grinned wickedly. "And this time I'm going to keep it that way."

* * *

The scene before Soul was slightly familiar, but there were a few differences between his current surroundings and past experiences. For example, once he had stepped into the hallway of their apartment building and had closed the door leading to his own residence behind him, he noticed Kid trying desperately to straighten a floral decoration sitting in a vase upon the accent table across the hall. The difference being that there were seven versions of the young Grim Reaper fixing up as many pieces of the decorative furniture along the hall as they could.

In addition, Blair had obviously been attempting to throw herself at Black*Star, which was normal, but Tsubaki stood protectively in front of her meister, raising her voice at the feline. Soul had never heard the Shadow Weapon yell even once.

"And what you're trying to do is entirely inappropriate and you really need to stop!" Tsubaki reprimanded the humanoid cat, her violet eyes glaring down at Blair in an intimidating stare.

The cat had transformed into her more feline appearance as she cowered under the accent table, frightened by the sudden ferocity of the Dark Arm. Because although she was used to being scolded by Maka, Blair had never heard Tsubaki raise her voice either.

"Really, I'm fine, Tsubaki." Black*Star said, obviously not liking being guarded. "I can deal with her."

"But you're not going to." Tsubaki muttered. "Did you see what she did?"

"Yeah. I was there." Black*Star huffed, crossing his arms.

"Well it's not going to happen again." The Shadow Weapon replied. Soul cleared his throat to make his presence known.

"Oh. Hey Soul." Black*Star said, glad to be off the current awkward subject. "Um, how much of that did you hear?"

"Just got out here." Soul lied. "_And I totally didn't just hear the entire conversation._"

"Oh." Tsubaki hid her sigh of relief. "How's Maka?" The question caused Soul to flinch.

"She's… Okay." He murmured. "She figured out what she did in the fight."

Tsubaki gasped, Black*Star grinned, and the Kids looked confused.

"Is she gonna start competing with me for the title of awesomest?" The young ninja laughed.

"Wait, we're confused." One Kid spoke for the group. "What did Maka do in the fight with Medusa? You said she was knocked out pretty early on."

Soul rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I left out some details…"

* * *

Maka was shaking. Of all the times for this to be revealed to her. If she had known she was half scythe much earlier in her life, she would've been able to cope with the situation better. She was also frustrated with herself for not seeing it coming. After all the reports, studies, and tests she had taken on weapon genes and how they transferred to their children, she had never suspected that she was one of the half-breeds she had read and written about.

The blonde stood shakily, the painkillers causing her to be dizzy once more. She hated being under such powerful drugs; they were nothing more than a hindrance. She could deal with pain and didn't need all this medicine. She stumbled back to Crona's closet, wanting to check on the disturbed boy and to be distracted from her current situation.

Crona was asleep, and he would've looked peaceful if he wasn't constantly shaking and murmuring in his sleep.

"My ocean… Snakes in my throat…" He mumbled. Maka sighed, kneeling next to him.

"Hey. Crona." She put a hand on his shoulder. The boy stiffened at her touch but stopped shaking, although he remained asleep. Maka smiled slightly. "Do you want to wake up and say bye before I go, Crona?" She murmured, and then stood when he didn't reply. She turned and quietly began walking towards the door as not to disturb him.

"Wait."

Maka turned around as she heard her friend's voice. Crona was sitting up, shaking. "Y-you're leaving?" He whimpered. "Forever? Is it b-because I was... Mean to you?" He sniffed, crying slightly.

Maka quickly knelt down next to Crona once again. "No, Crona." She smiled a little. "I'm not leaving forever. I'm just going to go after Med…" She paused, knowing that saying the witch's name might uncover painful memories for the traumatized boy. "A bad guy. I'm going after a bad guy with Soul. I'll be back." She smiled warmly.

Crona sighed with relief. "So you're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" Maka asked.

"Because I was… Medusa…" He said her name quietly as if it was a horrible swear word, "And she wanted to hurt you. And if I hurt you you'd be mad at me."

Maka shook her head. "I got hurt a little, Crona. But it wasn't your fault." She said, but Crona was shaking again.

"But I hurt you… And I could've hurt more people." He whimpered. "She was in my head, and she took away my ocean…" He glanced up at Maka, his eyes filled with tears. "… I just want a hug."

Maka instantly did as Crona asked, clutching the boy tightly. She was one of the three people who knew what Crona meant by 'his ocean', the other two being Medusa and Crona himself.

"It's okay, Crona." She whispered. "She's away from your beach now. And I'm going to kill her once and for all." She murmured. Crona looked up at her hopefully. He was silent for a minute, then proclaimed;

"I'm coming with you."

Maka stared at him in surprise. "Are you sure, Crona? You were just hurt really bad by her…"

"Yes I'm sure." Crona replied. "I keep on saying weird things randomly and I don't know how to deal with that. I think if I'm not scared of her anymore it'll go away." He replied.

Maka smiled slightly, pulling away from of the embrace. "Okay. You can come." She held out her hand to help the boy up. Crona smiled as he took her hand and stood.

Soul glanced over at the door when it opened, revealing Crona and Maka. "Hey." He mumbled nonchalantly.

The seven Kids looked up at the blonde meister. They didn't want to ask any questions for the sake of intruding on her privacy, but Black*Star wasn't as courteous.

"Hey, Maka! Do ya know you're a scythe yet? Are you gonna not use Soul anymore? Are you gonna make yourself a Death Scy…" Tsubaki gently shushed him before he could say anymore, but Maka was already watching her boots.

"I don't want to talk about it." She murmured. After picking her head up, she walked over to Soul. "But for the time being, Soul's still my weapon partner." She said, taking her partner's hand assuredly.

Soul held back a sigh of relief. That had been one of his main fears due to Maka's recently uncovered abilities. "Cool." He flashed a fanged grin, causing Maka to smile a little.

"All right." One Kid clapped his hands once to draw attention to himself. "Enough chitchat and fluff. Time is of the essence if we want to successfully track down Medusa and exterminate her before she hurts anyone else."

Crona nodded in agreement and Black*Star cheered a battle cry while Maka gained a determined look on her face.

"Let's go."

* * *

"Are you sure? Must we go down there?" All the Kids peered down the manhole that the rest of the group had already climbed down.

"Yes." Maka said. "This is the best way to track Medusa."

"But I would've thought she had left the sewers by now." Soul said. "Even though she's a witch, I wouldn't expect her to stay in a place like this." He stuck out his tongue in disgust. The place stank, and Crona looked like he was about to pass out because of it.

"I know it's out of character for her." Maka replied. "But I can still feel her wavelength down here."

"But it's filthy down there." A Kid protested.

"And our pant legs will get ruined in that disgusting water…" Another Reaper whined, voicing the fears of his duplicates.

"Suck it up and get you butt down here." Soul snapped. All the Kids took a last breath of fresh air before they climbed down the ladder one by one.

"We shall have to ask of Dad that our city's sanitation facilities become more… Sanitary." A Kid said as he stepped onto the narrow concrete walkway that bordered the large sewer. The last Kid closed the manhole cover on his way down, leaving the band in utter darkness.

"I don't like the dark…" Crona could be heard whimpering.

"Don't worry guys!" Black*Star's booming voice echoed on the concrete tunnels. "A bright star like me can guide the way!" He proclaimed as his boots were heard tromping forward.

"Black*Star, you can't see where you're going-!" Tsubaki exclaimed right before a loud splash was heard.

"COUGH I'm all right! But this stuff is gross!" Black*Star shouted, crawling from the water and back onto the platform.

Soul placed a hand on Maka's shoulder. "Stick with me." He said. "There's no telling what we'll find down here, but I'll be your guide."

"Um, Soul, that might've been sweet… If you were saying it to Maka."

"KID?!" Soul jerked away. If there had been any light to see with down there, everyone would've seen Soul's face turn beet red.

"Yes." The Kid he had touched was blushing as well. "I believe Maka's over there."

"Snakes took my ocean…"

"Crona, stop your muttering." Black*Star grumbled.

"Sorry. I can't help it. My mouth just starts talking sometimes even if I don't tell it to."

"I have Maka right here, Soul." Another Kid said. "Although she seems to have grown much taller…"

"Kid, I'm Tsubaki."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Are you Maka? No, you're sopping wet and you smell like you just fell into a dumpster filled with cow manure. You must be Black*Star." Another Kid said before a fist that was sopping wet and smelled like it just fell into a dumpster filled with cow manure collided with his jaw.

"That's what you get for insulting the mighty Black*Star!"

"Maka?"

"No, I'm Crona."

"Maka, speak up so we know where the heck you are!" Soul snapped, getting exasperated.

"Has anyone else heard shushing?" Crona said.

"You should've. I've been trying to get you guys quiet for the last five minutes."

"Maka! Where are you?"

"Be quiet, for Death's sake!" The blonde snapped. "It's really important that we stay quiet down here! If Medusa hears our voices echoing off the pipes, she'll know we're coming and be prepared for it." She whispered loudly.

Even though they couldn't see anything, the group's eyes were accustomed to the darkness of the sewers. So when Maka pulled the flashlight from her pocket and turned it on, all backed up and blinked at the light as if they were vampires.

After a few seconds of this, Soul stepped forward and took the flashlight. "I'll guide us." He said. Maka tried to snatch it back angrily.

"Soul, give it back! I'm as capable as you are!" She demanded, but her partner held the light just out of her reach.

"Trust me, all right?" He muttered nonchalantly. He wanted to prove himself to his meister and show her what she'd be missing out on if she chose to go it alone eventually, now that she was capable of being both meister and weapon.

He shoved her to the side gently and began walking forward, waving the light around the walls.

"Hey, wait for me!" Black*Star exclaimed, trying to catch up with Soul, but the scythe pushed forward.

"No way, man. Not if you smell like that." He huffed. "Take a bath."

"We're in the sewer." Black*Star muttered, crossing his arms grumpily. "There is no way I can take a bath down here."

"Exactly my point." Soul replied with a slight smirk.

Crona was shaking again. "Snakes in the water… The water's gone…"

Black*Star groaned loudly. "Would you quit that?!"

"Black*Star!" Maka slapped the young ninja. "It's not Crona's fault. Besides, we're supposed to be quiet down here, remember?

"Yeah, but a big man like me has just got to be heard!" Black*Star grinned.

Tsubaki sighed. "Black*Star, we really should be quiet…"

Crona stopped walking and froze. "Do you hear that?" He whimpered.

Everyone fell silent as they strained their ears.

"I don't hear anything." Soul mumbled as he continued to walk forward.

"That's because it wasn't making noise when you tried to listen." Crona said, not moving. "There it is again!"

Soul peered into the darkness, waving the light around again, while Maka searched for nearby Souls. Suddenly she stiffened. "Soul. Weapon Form, now." She commanded. Soul glanced back at her.

"I'll go on ahead." He said. "Make sure it's safe." The scythe added, walking forward proudly. He'd show her how brave he was. It was probably just a rat that was freaking everybody out, anyway. But if he stepped forward and protected them all, Maka would see how strong he was. She'd see how much she needed him.

"Soul, you don't understand. Get back here now." She ordered, but there was no reply. "Soul this isn't funny. I think the soul I can detect belongs to…" She stopped in mid-sentence as the faint light she could see from her partner's flashlight went out. "SOUL!" The blonde yelled, rushing forward and careful not to fall into the water.

"I wouldn't take another step if I were you."

Maka stopped in her tracks. Setting off an eerie purple glow with her magic, Medusa stood before her. She had her arm around Soul's neck with her hand over his mouth, while under her other arm she held what appeared to be a small dragon with a single horn.

"A little one." Crona whispered, shaking as he backed away.

"Don't try to look so wise, Soul Eater." Medusa taunted the gagged teen. "You were feeling so smart and confident that you walked right into me." The scythe's red eyes glared up at the witch, burning with hatred and malice.

"Yes, Soul." The Snake Witch grinned. "Motivate your anger. Let it burn."

"You quit that!" Maka yelled at her. "Let Soul go!"

The witch glanced jadedly at the girl. "What? No big scythe blade through my neck like last time?" She murmured, dropping the dragon. It growled and hissed threateningly at the group, but otherwise didn't look as if it was capable of defending itself.

"Soul's mine for a little bit. Find me and we'll talk business." Medusa smirked, backing up. Soul tried to reach a hand out to Maka, but the Snake Witch that held him caused her hand to spark with dark energy as she held it over his mouth. Even though it was muffled, Soul's cry of pain could still be heard as Maka rushed after them.

"You get back here, witch!" She cried, trying to run after Medusa, but the dragon stepped in her way, snapping at her ankles and wouldn't let her pass. Soul weakly held up his hand, giving Maka a thumbs-up, promising her that he'd be okay.

Maka stared at their disappearing forms as Medusa's light began to fade.

"Oh, one thing I forgot." The witch said, pointing at the dragon with her free hand and murmuring her spell. In the dwindling light, Maka could see the creature grow bigger. Right after the light was completely out, it roared loudly, and even though they couldn't see the it, everyone was aware that the 'little one' wasn't so little anymore. Medusa's laughter could be heard echoing from what seemed to be all directions.

"Have fun!"

* * *

**Admittedly some of the Medusa quotes at the end were taken from the 1****st**** Naruto ending theme, "Wind". I was at a loss and drew inspiration from it. And apparently Crona has really good hearing XD See you next chap! Review, fave, follow, etc.**


	9. It Came From Under the Sewer

**Cue another delayed chapter. It was a long weekend. Well, have chapter 9. *I disclaim***

**Define "Normal", Chapter 9**

**It Came From Under the Sewer**

* * *

There are many reasons why anyone other than sanitation workers prefer not to enter the sewers of a large city, and frankly the aforementioned sanitation workers probably don't like it much either. A simple and quite obvious reason is that it stinks quite terribly. However, most people don't avoid sewers for fear of large black dragons that seem angry enough to eat you alive. But then again, most people don't live in Death City, Nevada.

"Maka! Where's the flashlight you had?" A Kid shouted as the Not-So-Little One roared again. The large beast was eager to destroy the people he had previously been so defenseless against, but he would've rather fought them somewhere else. If the place smelled this bad, the horrible scent was bound to stick to his victims and affect their taste. What he wouldn't have done for some ketchup.

"Soul dropped it somewhere!" Maka replied to the Reaper, feeling for the torch with her feet while trying to avoid the dragon's own stomping talons. It was then that they realized that the creature could breathe fire.

Everything was visible for a moment as flames flew from the dragon's mouth, and Maka pinpointed the flashlight near its left foreleg and dove for it. The light also enabled everyone to get a good look at how large the beast was. Its massive bulk of black scales filled the rest of the pipe, and much of it sat in the water.

The light of the flames quickly died down with no injuries to the group while Maka turned on the flashlight and shone it directly at the dragon.

"There ya are!" Black*Star exclaimed, grinning once again. "Chain scythe, Tsubaki!"

As his weapon partner's form changed and landed in his hands, the young ninja charged forward and sliced at the beast's chest. The creature roared, but its reaction was not in pain but rather irritation. How dare this bite-size meal have the audacity to attack its devourer? It swung one of its feet around, knocking the blue-haired boy into the concrete wall.

"Darn it…" He muttered. He stood up quickly despite his pain and launched forward once again.

"Crona!" Maka called to her friend. "Use Ragnarok! You're the only other one with a weapon in here!"

"Not a chance!" The aforementioned sword burst from his meister's back and glared at the blonde. "I just fought under Lady Medusa! No way am I going back to serving under this wimp!" He punched the boy's head for emphasis.

"But Ragnarok, I need to help them. Transform." Crona tried to sound commanding, but failed miserably.

"Heck no." The Demon Sword snapped curtly before returning to his meister's blood. Crona sighed.

"I'll just step back… And not get in the way…" He said as he did just that, backing as far away as he could while keeping the battle in his vision.

"Then you hold the flashlight." Maka handed the electric torch to her friend irritably, perturbed at the rudeness of the pink-haired boy's weapon.

_BOOM_

"Kid!" Exclaimed a Kid as one of the clones was thrown against the wall by dragon's tail. The injured duplicate instantly was lost in a blast of smoke and powder.

"Maka!" Another Kid cried as yet another Shinigami was destroyed. "You need to stop this thing! It's going to crush all my symmetrical copies!"

"What can I do?" The blonde replied, but feared that she already knew the answer as she dodged another blast of fire.

"You're a scythe!" The Kid shot back. "Use your arm and slice it!"

"But I don't know how I did it in the first place! I was unconscious!" Maka leapt away from the swinging black tail of their current adversary.

"Try anything!" Yet another Kid yelled. "We're losing-!" He was cut off as the creature's claws grazed his chest. But instead of bursting into smoke and ash, the juvenile Grim Reaper fell to the ground as blood leaked through the rips in his suit. Maka gasped and whirled around to face the dragon. Taking a deep breath, she charged forward, holding her arms out.

"Please work." She pleaded to no one as she hit her target.

The creature reared back in pain as two scythe blades encountered the chinks in his underbelly armor. Maka pulled her arms back, stunned at her own actions. She quickly overcame her shock, however, and continued to stab the beast. Unfazed by his friend's transformation, Black*Star joined in the fray.

"It's going down!" A Kid cheered before it was swung into the wall by a large tail and exploded. The blast knocked the creature off balance, leaving it vulnerable. Maka and Black*Star took advantage of this and charged its chest.

The agonized roar of the Not-So-Little One echoed throughout the Death City sewers, causing a small amount of confusion to those who were close enough to hear it.

Maka wrenched her blade out of the creature's chest, panting. "_Did I really do that?_" She thought, staring at dead dragon. "_I killed it… By myself?_"

"That was awesome!" Black*Star cheered. "Way to go, Maka!"

"How can you say that was awesome?!" A Kid cried. "We lost three of us!"

"On the plus side, we found the original." Another replied, helping his duplicates carry the unconscious Reaper.

"True, but he's bleeding and unconscious." The third clone added.

"It didn't really look like that terrible a wound." Tsubaki pointed out as she appeared human once more. "I mean, we've all taken worse and got back up."

"But it _is _terrible!" The first clone objected. "The claws cut him diagonally across the chest! It is absolutely impossible for him to retain symmetrical scars!"

"Oh, how terrible!" Black*Star moaned in what was very obviously mock sympathy. "Should we slice his chest the other way, too?"

The Kids looked at each other, then back at the young ninja. "We'll consider it."

"That's a little ridiculous." Crona said confusedly. He stared at Maka as the girl shoved past him, racing along the tunnel. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Soul!" The teen replied, running to the ladder and manhole that was her escape. "Tsubaki, get Crona home!" She called behind her as she climbed out, leaving the cover open. She then took off down the street, trying to track her partner's wavelength.

"All right, Maka…" Tsubaki stared after the blonde meister, concerned for her friend.

"We're taking him back to Gallows Manor." The Kids grunted with the effort it took to perform the balancing act of lifting their unconscious original out of the manhole.

Crona shook. "I hope Maka will be okay…"

Tsubaki put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm sure she'll be fine. She can handle herself; she knows she's a scythe now." She smiled gently, but Crona shook his head.

"That's just what I'm worried about."

* * *

Soul blinked and groaned from his sitting position on the ground.

"Looks like you're awake." Medusa smirked, sitting across from the teen.

Soul stirred, trying to remember what happened to him. After he had been dragged off by Medusa, she had knocked him unconscious, but he recalled nothing beyond that. He looked around, trying to become more aware of his surroundings. They were in a large building that the scythe assumed to be the abandoned warehouse on 5th street. The roof was badly damaged, with shafts of sunlight filtering through various holes in the metal roof high above their heads. Despite this, it was still rather dark in the white-haired boy's current prison, and all he could make of his situation is that he was gagged by something large and smooth, probably rolled up silk, and his hands were tied behind his back to a support beam with the same material. Why anyone would bind their prisoners with silk, Soul couldn't guess, but he reminded himself Medusa was sick and twisted, and nothing was too strange for her. His crimson eyes glared up at the witch, blazing with fury.

"Comfortable?" The Snake Witch chuckled. "Now, I wouldn't start trying to rip up your gag with your teeth or your bindings with your fancy scythe arm. They won't be happy."

Soul's expression became one of confusion as he wondered what his captor was talking about. Suddenly his eyes widened as his gag hissed at him.

She had bound him with _snakes_.

"Black Mambas from Africa; one of my personal favorites. Yes, they're venomous," Medusa said as she stood. "So I would suggest not irritating them if you want to have the slightest chance of living to see your meister rush to your rescue."

Soul's heart began pounding as he stared at the ground.

"You're the bait, Soul Eater." Medusa laughed, walking off. "And my first target is going to fall for it."

Soul closed his eyes. _"This is all my fault._" He thought forlornly. "_My own stupid fault. Why was I such a stuck-up idiot?!_" He growled at himself, but one of the snakes around his wrist took the gesture offensively and began to hiss threateningly. The scythe froze and remained silent until the reptile calmed back down. He sighed with relief, but remained worried for his partner.

"Soul?"

The teen's head shot up. "_Get out of here!_" He wanted to scream. "_Can't your soul perception not be working today?_" He couldn't see his meister; he was in a far corner secluded by crates, but he could hear her call to him echo off the metal walls.

Maka stood in the warehouse doorway. Shoving open the rusted sliding door had been a chore and the blonde wanted to get her partner and get out without much of a hassle. However, she knew very well the likelihood of that was rather small.

"You finally got here. I was getting impatient." Medusa yawned nonchalantly as she sat atop a stack of wooden crates. Maka whipped around to the witch as her emerald eyes burned with hatred.

"Where's Soul?!" She snapped.

"Well you're not being very polite." The witch grumbled.

"I asked you where Soul was!" The blonde shouted, trying to keep the shakiness of her body from spreading to her voice. "_She's avoiding the question. Does that mean she already…_"

"He's still alive; don't worry." Medusa said as if she read the teen's mind. "He's not my main target. At least, not at the moment. You see, he can't fight without you. If you're out of the way, the blade that nearly killed me is near useless."

Soul scowled when she called him 'useless'.

"So I'm willing to make a deal with you." The Snake Witch continued. "Your death in exchange for a chance for Soul to get away."

Maka watched her feet, seriously considering the witch's offer.

"_Don't you dare even think about it._" The scythe thought of his meister.

Maka's eyes turned back to Medusa in determined defiance. "No." She declared. "I'm rescuing Soul. My way."

The witch sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that." She said, snapping her fingers. It was then that the shadows on the floor began moving towards the young meister, revealing that they weren't shadows at all, but hundreds of black snakes. Maka gasped, backing towards the door, but it closed tight, seemingly on its own. "This should be entertaining." Medusa chuckled darkly as her reptilian minions hissed and charged the girl.

Soul was tired of sitting there being useless. Trying to time it right, he suddenly shifted into his full scythe form. Enraged, the snakes that bound him began biting his metal, but their fangs couldn't penetrate him. He waited until they seemed bored before he quickly turned human and took off running. The two snakes seemed confused for a moment, then hissed and followed him. The scythe nimbly avoided their strikes at his heels as he ran to the aid of his meister.

"I'm here, Maka!" He exclaimed, but froze in his tracks when he saw her.

The blonde teen was fighting off the snakes using the blades on her arms. She was actually doing a pretty good job, as if the motions she had to preform to fight skillfully were natural to her. Soul stared at the girl, reality hitting him like a slap to the face.

"_She doesn't need me._" He thought. "_I should've seen this coming. She's a strong girl. Of course she'd eventually find a way to fight on her own. She doesn't need me. She's independent._" He shook. "_... She doesn't need me._"

Maka noticed Soul out of the corner of her eye. "Soul!" She exclaimed, breaking the teen out of his trance. "Open the doors!"

Soul nodded and rushed forward, but it was then he noticed the sharp pain in his leg. "Dang it." He muttered, seeing the fang marks on his ankle left by one of the snakes when he had stopped. He continued forward, however, ignoring the venom pulsing from the wound. He heaved open the doors, but was confused as he did so. "Where'd that witch get off to?" He called to Maka as she ran through the doors.

"I have no idea and I don't care!" The blonde shouted as one of her arms lost its blade. This hand proceeded to grab Soul's wrist and drag him out behind her as she ran out the door.

"Maka." Soul said as he began to grit his teeth through his pain. "I can't run. One of the snakes bit my ankle."

The girl rolled her eyes after looking behind herself to make sure no snakes were following them. "Fine. Transform." She said. Her partner did so and the blonde held him in both hands as her other blade retreated into her arm. "This'll keep it from spreading for a while until we get you home." She glared down at him. "What was the point of that?!" She suddenly burst out. "I was worried about you! You were trying to act so proud that you nearly got yourself killed! You've done some stupid things before, but _this-_!" She didn't finish her sentence as she groaned in exasperation.

"So-ry." Soul muttered. "I thought if I showed you how cool I was, that you'd keep me as your weapon..."

"Well, it wasn't 'cool' at all!" Maka shot back. "And who ever said I was going to stop wielding you?"

Soul's reflection on his blade looked irritated. "You're a scythe now! You can fight on your own!" He shouted. Now that he finally voiced his inner concerns, they came out fast and loud. "I was afraid that you'd choose to go it alone!"

"Maybe I will!" The blonde retorted. "Like I need such a stuck-up idiot for a partner!"

Soul's eyes widened. He hadn't meant to _suggest _that they stopped being partners. "Maka, I'm your protector!" He exclaimed. "It's my job! Who's gonna guard you if I'm not around?"

"You think I'm helpless?" Replied the teen hotly.

"I never said that!"

"You implied it."

Soul rolled his eyes. Of course his partner was being stubborn. But two could play at that game, and he wasn't about to give up. For as much as he said she needed him, he knew the reverse was just as true, if not more.

He needed her.

Soul couldn't bear the thought of being separated from Maka. She had become his life the moment their eyes met in that music room. He couldn't bear the thought of her deciding to not have a partner any longer and taking a mission on her own. One day she'd be killed. That was how things worked at the DWMA. The reason there were so little Death Scythes wasn't because getting a total of one hundred souls was immensely difficult. It was because they continued to get killed in action. One day that would've been him, defending his partner. He wouldn't have had it any other way. But if she came to the conclusion that she was capable of fighting all by herself, then _she'd _be killed. And the thought of his meister dying without even an attempt by him to protect her made Soul want to scream.

"Maka, listen to me." Soul snapped sternly. "You need me."

"No Soul, you listen to me." Maka shot back. "You know what I think? I think you're clingy and posessive, and that I'm absolutely able to become my own weapon." She said, gripping her weapon's hilt. While she was irritated with Soul, she kept her true reason for her desire for independence hidden.

The young teen had been contemplating her various courses of action ever since her mysterios genetics had been revealed to her. But when Medusa captured Soul as bait, the meister made up her mind. The scythe she loved would no longer get hurt because of her.

"As soon as we get home, Soul," Maka murmured, much quieter, "We're done being partners."

Soul was silent for the rest of the walk as his soon-to-be former meister carried him home.

* * *

Medusa had watched the entire scene. Having transformed back into a snake, she followed the meister and weapon and witnessed their entire debate and conclusion. She had gotten the result she had planned for in performing Soul's capture, that being the rift she caused between the two that left them defenseless. Everything was going according to plan. However, she wanted someone else to finish off the Soul.

"The girl's mine." She explained to the man before her. "The the white-haired boy's all yours."

"You still haven't answered my first question, witch." Her chosen assassin snapped. "And I'm not even going to consider your offer until you answer it. How'd you find me?"

"You weren't hard to locate." Medusa sat in her human form on an old couch in a shabby-looking apartment. "When a man like you tries to live a normal life, you fail and attract a lot of attention." She shrugged. "Although I can't imagine why you'd choose to live in Death City, of all places."

"Because I didn't know where else to go!" The man snapped. "Everything I'd fought for for all those years had been destroyed in the blink of an eye because of that _stupid _DWMA..." He hissed, gripping the arms of the recliner he sat in to try and control his anger.

"Well this is a chance for revenge. I don't know why you don't take it." The Snake Witch said,causing the man's eyes to glare at her.

"Because I hate you and trust you about as much as I would a rabid ferret." He snarled.

"That's not a nice comparison." Medusa sighed. "But I can take a hint. You probably don't even want the cash reward, anyway..." She began to stand, but the man's eyes widened, suddenly intrigued. He needed money desperately, as one could easily gather from the sorry state of his apartment. He had also developed the bad habit of gambling to try and get more money, but had instead pushed himself into even greater debt.

"What cash reward?" He asked, trying to hide the desire in his voice. The witch began to grin.

"Now we're getting somewhere."

* * *

**FINALLY DONE. Sorry it's so late. There's probably a lot of spelling errors in here because I wasn't using my own computer. See ya next chap! Review, fave, follow, etc.**


	10. Hershey Bars and Bologna Sandwhiches

**Yay! Chapter 10! :D I honestly didn't expect this to be this long. But I'm pleased with how it's come, even though I have no idea how many chapters this'll have… Well, have 10. (I'm gonna be surprised with myself if I don't find some way to incorporate a huge Doctor Who reference in this chapter. 10****th**** is best Doctor.)**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 10**

**Hershey Bars and Bologna Sandwhiches**

* * *

You have probably heard the term "be careful what you wish for". The phrase simply means that if you desire something, the end result will probably not be the dream come true you had in mind. There are various situations in which this may be applied, including the yearning for a child to be free of their parent's control, albeit for a short while, and have the house to themselves. However, this example is not limited to the relationship between parent and child, and can be applied to meister and weapon as well.

After she had managed to expel her meister from the house, Patricia Thompson raided the supply of Hershey bars she knew the young Grim Reaper kept in his closet. Now on a sugar high, the young gun proceeded to bust open her piggy bank labeled "Stunts for when Kid's gone" and buy out the local joke shop's supply of Silly String, and went on to use every ounce in every can of the stuff to entirely ruin the interior of Gallows Manor. As a result, haphazard patterns of blue string weighed down every single painting or portrait, tilting them unevenly to the side and causing some to be so heavy that they fell to the floor altogether. However, after she had emptied the fifty-seventh and final can, the blonde had run out of activities and was starting to regret her wish to get Kid out of the house.

"Sissy, I'm bored." Patty sighed, flopping down on one of the silly string-covered couches. "Is your Doctor Who special over yet? I wanna play Mouse Trap."

Liz was sobbing, positioned Crona-like in her corner of despair. "I don't want to go…"

"What?" The younger sister asked. "What are you talking about? Are we supposed to be practicing our Crona impressions? I did that yesterday, remember? Are you behind on our schedule of acting like one of our friends for an hour every day?"

"Patty, I haven't been doing that." Liz muttered, temporarily broken out of her sorrow at the annoying habits of her sugar-high sister. "That habit of yours is kinda creepy."

"It's not creepy, I've actually gotten pretty good at my Black*Star imitations." Patty beamed. "Wanna see?"

"No." Liz rolled her eyes. "I'm having fangirl issues. That special was amazing." She curled back into her ball.

"Then why are you moping? I thought you'd be happy if it was amazing."

"Well it made me miss David Tennant even more!" Liz wailed, being dramatic once again.

"Get over it." Patty snapped curtly. "I wanna do something fun. Moping isn't fun unless it's 'act like Crona' hour."

"Why don't you find Kid?" Liz grumbled. "You can have fun showing him how you wrecked the place and watching him freak out."

"Good idea!" Patty exclaimed, grinning joyously again as she leaped off the couch and ran to the door.

"Patty, it's as if you're psychic." Said a Kid as he looked like he was about to kick the door to knock on it while his arms held up the legs of the original young Shinigami.

"Thanks for opening the door." The second one said, holding one of the unconscious Kid's arms, while the third clone held the other arm. Patty scooted to the side to allow her meisters in, but upon entering the foyer, the clones stopped dead.

"Patty." One began.

"What in the name of all things dead," Continued another.

"Did you do to the place?!" The final clone finished.

"Well…" Patty looked deep in thought, as if she was trying to remember exactly what she did, until her eyes lit up with realization. "Oh yeah! I stole all your Hershey's, then broke my piggy bank, then bought, like, a TON of Silly String, then I covered the entire inside of the house with it, because I figured that if I covered the outside, you'd complain that the neighbors would see it."

The Kids stood there gaping, except for the unconscious one, who for his own sake was probably better off having no knowledge of what his house looked like.

"Patty." One began once again.

"We're going to put the original here on the couch," Continued another.

"And go outside and scream for a good eight minutes." The final clone added as the clones tried to remain calm and not freak out for fear of dropping the original.

Patty watched as the Kids set the unconscious Kid down on the couch carefully. Suddenly the trio broke into an all-out run to the back door, where they burst outside into the backyard and ran around in circles screaming in horror. Patty pulled up a chair and viewed their antics as a spectator from behind the sound-proof glass back door. One Kid now appeared to be sobbing on the ground, another seemed to be standing and screaming something along the lines of "WHY ME?!" and the third seemed to have collapsed onto the picnic table in a symmetrical faint. Sipping a juice box, the younger Thompson sat entertained.

After exactly eight minutes of this, the three clones trudged back inside the house.

"Patty." The first clone started once more.

"Get something to clean this hideous mess up with," Put in the second.

"While we tend to the injuries of the original Kid." The third finished.

"Oki doki Loki!" Patty smiled, skipping off to find a sponge. The Kids stared at the terrible mess around them stiffly, and each gulped with apprehension as they tried to focus their minds on the task of curing the original, rather than manically restoring the perfection of their home.

After a while the original Kid stared around himself, blinking.

"No, I'd close your eyes again." One of his clones told him. "We just managed to get your injury wrapped up and put a new shirt on you, but there are other matters at the moment that you shouldn't see until you're in better health."

Kid sat up. "What are you talking about…?" He began, but stiffened when he saw Patty cleaning the mantel of Silly String.

"Hey Kid!" She beamed.

Kid's eye twitched. "Get me out of this house." He said quickly. The other Kids nodded and helped him up as one turned to Liz, who was still sulking in the corner.

"Liz, make sure your sister cleans up." He said, but another clone looked confused.

"I thought yesterday was the day you acted like Crona." He said.

"I know, right?!" Patty exclaimed.

"I'm not pretending to be Crona!" Liz snapped. "I'm drowning in feels!"

"Oh. Well whatever 'feels' are, I'm sure the symmetrical well-being of the house is much more important." The third clone said, closing the door behind him.

Kid sighed, running a hand through his hair. "At least she kept her mess to the inside." He murmured. "I don't want to hear about what else she did until I'm not as prone to passing out from blood loss. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir." The clones replied. Kid looked at them in confusion.

"Why are you suddenly calling me sir?"

"Well, because it's apparent that you're the original." The first clone explained. "Shouldn't we serve you?"

"You didn't before."

"But now we know." The second clone added. "And we think it's respectful of us to address you as 'sir'."

"After all," The third clone concluded. "If it wasn't for you, none of us clones would exist."

"That's true, I suppose." Kid agreed, looking at the shirt his clones had chosen for him. It was a simple black t-shirt with the white design on his father's mask positioned perfectly in the center. He still wore his dress pants and shoes, however, and that irritated him slightly, but he tried to ignore it. "So what happened while I was out cold?"

"Maka had blades grow out of her arms." The first clone explained.

"And killed the dragon with Black*Star." Said the second.

"Then Maka ran off to find Soul, while Tsubaki and Black*Star took Crona back to his home." Finished the third.

"Then we should probably check up on Maka and Soul and see if they're back yet." The original proposed.

"Sounds like a good idea." The others agreed.

"Good." Kid said, walking off in that direction.

The man watched the group from the shade of the alley. "Dang witch didn't even gimme an address." He muttered. "So I have to follow Death's spoiled brat sons… Could've swore he only had one." He talked to himself quietly as he followed the four Grim Reapers. "I don't even wanna be here... Why did I even agree to this? Oh yeah, I need money... Lost all of it to that Robert guy over poker... Stupid Robert." He gritted his pointed teeth. "He cheated. I know he cheated. I should've tore him to pieces. But I'm supposed to be keeping myself from getting arrested and laying low... Laying low sucks." As he continued to mutter to himself, he wasn't watching where he was going. Suddenly he tripped on top of an overturned trashcan, and all the anger he had been building up was suddenly unleashed upon the unfortunate large metal can.

One of the clones stopped. "Do you hear that?" He said, glancing behind himself at an alley, where the noise of what seemed to be an engine could be heard. The others nodded as they ran back to inspect it, but upon hearing them coming the assassin stopped and fled.

When the Reapers reached the scene, they stared at it in confusion. Before them lay shredded strips of metal, as if something had ripped a trashcan to pieces.

"What could do that?" A clone wondered. The original shrugged.

"How should I know? It sounded like a chainsaw."

* * *

Tsubaki looked up from her position at the kitchen counter when the door was opened and Maka walked in, her face shadowed as she carried her weapon partner.

"Soul got bit by a deadly snake." She said, setting her partner on the couch. "He'd be dead by now if he wasn't in weapon form."

Soul was entirely silent. His metal form remained still and his reflection didn't appear on his blade as he sulked.

"That's terrible!" Tsubaki gasped. "Do you want me to go home and get something to extract the venom? Black*Star's been poisoned before, so I'm prepared…"

"C'mon, it only happened once!" Black*Star rolled his eyes from his sitting position on a chair at the kitchen table. "Quit bringing it up!"

"Sorry." The Shadow Weapon murmured. "But Maka, do you need it?"

"I've got my own stuff. It's in the bathroom medicine cabinet." She said, walking back to her room.

The black-haired teen looked confused. "You talk as if you're not helping him yourself…"

"I'm not." The blonde replied as she paused in her walking. "It's best we interact with each other as little as possible. If I start to miss him, I might go back on my decision."

"It's not like that'd be a BAD thing!" Soul yelled angrily, finally speaking up. "Maka! Don't you walk away from me!"

Maka gripped her doorframe before she turned into her room and slammed the door behind her, causing Soul to growl in exasperation.

"Get back out here!" He shouted as he decided to resort to low blows. "I thought we had a relationship!"

The absence of a reply from her former meister's room only edged on the irritation of the scythe. "MAKA!"

"Calm down, Soul." Tsubaki sighed. "Just remain in your weapon form until I get back with the medicine, all right?" She murmured, going into the hallway.

Black*Star watched his partner leave. He knew Tsubaki wouldn't probe for seemingly personal information until it was offered to her, but her meister had different ideas of etiquette. "So what happened?" He asked Soul. "You two get in a fight?"

"A life-changing one." Soul huffed hotly.

"Really?" The blue-haired boy probed curiously. "What all happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Soul muttered. "And apparently neither does Maka."

Tsubaki came back at that moment with a supply of various medical instruments in her arms. "All right Soul, I'll need you to transform."

Soul did as he was told, holding in a cry of pain. His entire lower leg felt numb as he lay on the couch. Tsubaki winced when she saw the wound.

"That looks pretty bad." She said quietly, but tried to smile reassuringly. "Don't worry; we can get it fixed up. Just don't move."

The living scythe nodded as he leaned back, resting his head on the arm of the couch and watching the ceiling.

"That looks pretty bad."

"Thanks Tsubaki." Soul muttered sarcastically. "Like I needed you to tell me again." Normally he wouldn't have been as rude to the girl, but his tolerance was very low at the moment.

"That wasn't me, Soul." The Dark arm said as she numbed his ankle.

While he winced at the pain, Soul couldn't help but smile a tiny bit at the Hyacinth Macaw that lighted itself down in the back of the couch.

"That looks pretty bad."

"You're real encouraging, Sokka." Soul chuckled a little.

"You're real encouraging." The bird chirped.

Soul's eyes scanned his surroundings as a thought occurred to him.

"Hey Tsubaki, where's Blair?" He asked, confused. If that cat was loose, the scythe wasn't sure how much longer Death City would survive.

"I think she's back in Maka's room." Tsubaki replied. "When I'm done, do you want something to eat? You haven't had lunch yet, and it's kind of late in the afternoon."

Soul nodded. "Sure." He murmured, his thoughts back on Maka. The blonde girl currently had her face buried into her pillow while her cat prodded her side with her paw.

"C'mon, Maka. Get your face out of there." Blair mewed. Maka hadn't moved since she had entered the room, although her body was vibrating with the girl's shaky breaths.

"Will you at least talk to me?" The violet feline sighed. "Maaaaaakaaaaaa…"

The blonde's hand pushed the cat away. "Leave me alone." She said, her voice cracking.

"Yay! You talked!" Blair cheered, but paused when she heard the tone of her friend's voice. "Is there something wrong, Maka? You sound like you're crying."

The girl shoved the cat away, harder this time. "I said get out."

Blair sighed. "Maka, just tell Blair what's wrong."

Maka growled in irritation as she whipped around to face her cat. "It's none of your business, Blair! Please just leave me alone!" She shouted as her voice shook. Her eyes were red, and there were wet spots on the pillow as if she had been crying. Blair hung her ears.

"Sorry Maka." She apologized as Maka dug her face into her pillow once again, sobbing so loudly that the sound reached the cat's ears. The latter sighed, and then said quietly to herself; "I just wanna know what's got you so sad."

"That'll probably still hurt, so I wouldn't recommend stepping on it." Tsubaki told Soul of his ankle. "Do you want me to get you anything to eat?"

"Sure." The scythe replied, watching the ceiling and the parrot that often flew across his vision. "There's bread in the cabinet next to fridge, and bologna and cheese in the highest drawer in the fridge. I'll just have a sandwich." He said. His leg didn't hurt so much as it was numb, and he was afraid that if she walked on it he'd collapse on his face. "Can you ask Crona to come here?"

"Sure." Tsubaki smiled as she paused in making the silver-haired teen's sandwich and took a detour into the hallway. A few minutes later, Crona approached Soul under Tsubaki's summons.

"You wanted me to come here?" He asked. "Is there something wrong? Other than you being bitten by a snake and all."

"Yes." Soul muttered. "But that's not important. I'm gonna give you a list of things to do, and I need you to remember what to do exactly. Got it?"

Crona looked nervous. "I dunno... I'm not sure if I can deal with having to memorize a lot of things..."

"Well deal with it." The scythe snapped curtly. "It needs to be done if I'm going to keep my sanity."

The pink-haired boy's eyes widened. "That sounds important."

The teen nodded. "It is. Now here's what I need you to do..."

Maka emerged from her room a few hours later. She wanted to avoid Soul at all costs, but she knew she'd have to get up and eat eventually. Determined that she'd just avoid eye contact, she walked calmly into the living room.

"Is this what you asked me to get, Soul?"

"Yeah. That's the last of it."

Maka's eyes widened. "Crona." She said, not having any desire to address Soul. "What are you doing?"

"Soul asked me to do some things for him." The young Gorgon explained, stuffing as many ensembles as he could into the large red-and-black colored rolling suitcase Soul had requested he retrieve. "And I figured, that since he couldn't move, it would be nice if I did..."

"But why is he packing up?" The blonde asked of her friend.

"I'm right behind you; you can talk to my face instead of asking Gender-confused." Soul huffed, deliberately trying to irritate his former meister so she'd talk to him. It worked.

"Soul, I've told you over and over not to call him that!" The blonde teen whipped around to the scythe, glaring daggers at him.

With effort, Soul stood and took the handle of the suitcase. "I'm leaving, Maka." He said nonchalantly. The girl's eyes widened, but she quickly adopted a convincing act of indifference.

"Moving out?" She asked.

"Yep." Soul replied. "Probably going back to my family." He said, but he knew it was a lie. There was no way he was going back to that musical prison. He wouldn't be able to handle his parents' disapproval, for both going to the Academy and not coming back a hero. He might wander, look for odd jobs, but he couldn't go back to the DWMA and just choose a new partner. He'd feel as if he was betraying Maka, and he definitely didn't want to see her training alone. He'd had enough heartbreak simply at her proclamation of wanting to work solo.

Maka watched the weapon as Black*Star gaped at him. "You're leaving me? Your best bud?" He exclaimed.

"Maka, what is this all about?" Tsubaki finally questioned. "What happened between you two?"

Soul was trundling his suitcase out the door as Maka, with a hidden but heavy heart, announced her new decision.

"Soul and I are no longer partners."

Slamming the door behind himself, Soul heard no more of the conversation.

He trudged along grumpily. He didn't know for how long he walked, but he knew he was simply going in circles. He was reluctant to leave the city he called home for the past few years. Maybe he'd apply for jobs around town. Ask to work in the back of the store, do the heavy lifting. A lot of stores needed a strong young man, didn't they?

The scythe stopped in the middle of the busy evening street, lit by lampposts and filled with pedestrians. Some people glared at him and pushed him for interfering with traffic, but the teen stayed put, his face shadowed.

"Who am I kidding?" He muttered to himself. "Where am I ever going to belong besides at the Academy with Maka?" The teen shook his head. The thought of his family once again came to his mind. There was his parents' shame to expect if he returned, to be sure. But there'd also be Wes. His brother. The one who cared for him. The one who supported him.

"Hey, you did your best." He'd smile.

"I didn't."

Soul's fist clenched. "If I had done my best, I'd be dead for her." He gritted his sharpened teeth. Rapidly he turned on his heel and began racing back to Maka's apartment. "I'm staying right here." He told himself. "And I'm gonna convince that stubborn girl that we're partners."

"Why do you want her?"

Soul froze. He was in an empty part of town, having taken a shortcut, as the familiar-sounding voice addressed him from the shadows of a nearby alley.

"You said yourself she was stubborn."

"But she's my partner." Soul snapped. "We stick together. We need each other."

"She doesn't need you." The voice laughed. "You're the helpless one. Because unlike awesome me, you need a meister to fight." The man stepped from the shadows, fang-shaped teeth glinting in a grin. "Which is why I'm going to kill you now, when you're alone." Giriko grinned.

Meanwhile, the Kids politely knocked on Maka's door, and smiled when Tsubaki opened it.

"Are Maka and Soul doing all right?" Asked the original, but all frowned when they saw Tsubaki's forlorn expression as the Dark Arm shook her head.

"No."

Maka was standing in the middle of Soul's former room with the door closed. She stared at the walls, now barren of posters, as Crona had done under Soul's request. In addition, anything the scythe hadn't taken was in cardboard boxes and under the bed, so all was bare and without any decor. Shaking with grief, the young meister and weapon in one walked to the dresser to inspect its contents, or lack of them. But upon opening the top drawer, the blonde's hand flew to her mouth.

"He didn't." He murmured through her hand as she panted.

The drawer was filled with pictures of the two in various situations; fighting together, fighting against one another, her sitting at his hospital bed, the two playing basketball, the list went on. The girl shook with what this all must mean.

Soul had kept photos of them in secret, but he hadn't taken them with him.

He loved her, but was leaving their memories behind.

Maka sat down upon her partner's former bed, staring at the photo in her hands of when she had kissed her scythe's cheek for their victory after winning a basketball game. Teardrops gently dotted the photo as the blonde teen stared at it with watery eyes.

"What have I done?"

* * *

**Apparently Kid has a secret love of Hershey bars. He has a not-so-secret stash of them. Or Maybe it's because he needs to hide every piece of candy he gets or it'll get stolen by his younger weapon LOL I have a lot of fun writing the Thompson sisters and their meister and how they play off each other. It works out well :D See ya next chap!**


	11. More Useless Than Sakura Haruno

**Merry Christmas, peoples! And before we know it, it's chapter 11. I had writer's block for this one, so if it comes out random and weird, blame my lack of muse. *I disclaim* I don't own the song I reference, the show I reference, or the character I reference in the title, either. I've watched Naruto a little bit, but heard enough to know she doesn't do much. XD**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 11**

**More Useless Than Sakura Haruno**

* * *

Often when you're focused on one thing and another thing immediately attracts your attention, your mind instantly leaves the first subject in an attempt to completely grasp the second. But there are cases in which the two matters blend and cause confusion to the perceiver, albeit for a few brief moments. But when you're facing a deadly assassin, those few moments of your mental paralysis can turn the tide of the encounter for the worse.

It was only a few seconds that Soul stood there, trying to make sense of all the jumbled noise produced by the insane amount of contemplations circling his mind. His thoughts of returning to Maka had been so strong and forceful upon his mind that when he was suddenly struck with the fact that he was being pursued by a chainsaw out to kill him, the teen's head had to back up to try and process all the facts and make sense of them. And that was when Giriko charged.

Soul flew back. The direct punch to his face from the man's large gloved fist sent him back a few feet as he fell to the ground.

"Well that was pathetic." Giriko scoffed. "Seriously, I'm not even using my chains yet. You were so distracted that you went down with a punch." He chuckled. "Man, you're lame."

Soul glared up at his assassin. He was pretty sure that he tasted blood in his mouth, but he wasn't going to give the crude man before him the satisfaction of knowing that. "I was distracted, all right?" He spoke to his opponent as if they were in a friendly spar in an attempt to by himself time, but his approach failed.

"Well, try not to be too distracted this time!" Giriko grinned before sending another fist flying at the silver-haired teen's face. Soul rolled out of the way, and the chainsaw pulled his hand back in the pain he received from pounding his fist directly into the flagstone below. "You'll pay for that, darn you!" He spat, chains appearing on his lower legs and whirring to life as his opponent stood.

"Yeah right." Soul rolled his eyes, pretending to stay cool and collected. His shaking betrayed his inner feelings, however, as fear and dread crept their way into his thoughts.

"_He's capable of killing me_." The teen's heart pounded as he dodged a spinning kick to his head.

"Dodging, scythe?" Giriko growled. "Fight back! Oh wait," The chainsaw let his anger subside for a moment as his voice adopted a mocking air and his expression became that of a cocky smirk. "You can't fight without your meister."

Soul's red gaze shot into his opponent's own amber eyes. "That's why I'm going back her, idiot!" He snapped, bringing his own leg around in an attempt to kick his opponent's side and knock the wind out of him. But Giriko simply grinned and caught Soul's leg in his large hand. His balance thrown off, the scythe struggled to tear free, but the chainsaw then gripped the teen's leg in both arms and threw him into a nearby building's wall.

Soul couldn't hide the cough he produced from the blood filling his mouth, which caused Giriko to grin even more. "Am I wearing you down, _useless _scythe?"

The white-haired teen grimaced in pain, but stood anyway as the chainsaw continued to taunt him.

"You really are useless, you know that? From what I hear, your meister can fight without you now." Giriko drew nearer. "So you're just another piece of metal. A rental to be passed around between owners that might have a use for you, when you could have so much potential. So here's what I'm thinking." He now stood directly in front of the scythe. "I could teach you to unlock your potential. You've got it; I could see that when we fought before. But you're not gonna find it when you're just being used by that blonde chick. So I could tell Medusa that I killed you, and you could join me." His expression was void of his typical smirk, and his voice had lost that tone of arrogance as he made his proposal.

Soul panted as blood continued to drip from his mouth. "_So Medusa hired him to kill me._" He realized. "What if I refuse?" He snapped, his voice still filled with malice.

"Then you'll die." Giriko replied with a shrug, as if he couldn't care less, but his voice became taunting again. "You'll die right here, as a useless weapon without even a meister."

Soul was silent for a few moments, but then glared at Giriko once again. "I feel alive when Maka's beside me." He growled in defiance. "I will not die. I'll wait here for her."

The chainsaw raised an eyebrow, then he slowly began to chuckle. Suddenly his chuckling burst into all-out laughter as he threw his head back and guffawed at the boy. "That'd be sweet, kid, if she cared about you anymore!" He exclaimed.

"Who says she doesn't?" It was Soul's turn to smirk as his lower arm became a scythe's blade. When he transformed his appendages individually and tried to fight using them, they were large and cumbersome, but he hoped he could simply scare Giriko off with his determination. He prayed such a thing was possible. "She will always be my only meister; no one else could match this cool wavelength." He charged forward, lifting his heavy arm to try and drive it through Giriko's chest, but the chainsaw easily dodged.

"Determination'll get ya nowhere, kid." Giriko shook his head. "Looks like I was wrong to think you had potential."

Soul whipped around to face his enemy, when suddenly he froze. He could hear the whirr of Giriko's saw foot as his mind once again struggled to process the scenario. But the process was very slow, and Soul was falling both to the ground and out of consciousness. As if the impact jolted the teen's mind, everything became clear as Giriko stood above him and wrapped one large hand around the scythe's neck.

"_He pressed his saw foot into my chest._"

"_He tore up my chest._"

"_I think I'm dying._"

"It's kinda a shame to kill you." The man tsked as he gripped Soul's neck, cutting off his oxygen and speeding up his descent into nothingness. "I thought you had better stuff in ya. Looks like I need to work on my judgement."

Soul, gasping for breath, stared into Giriko's eyes and viewed his own pitiful reflection. The chainsaw's edged foot was still upon his chest, and although the chains had stopped moving, blood continued to pour from the large wound and scar that that the man had opened with his deadly attack. Blood even flowed from the head injury he had received from his combined impacts with the wall and the ground.

Blood.

So much blood.

That was the last thing Soul saw. His last thought, however, was not fear or dying or acceptance of his fate, as is sometimes typical. Instead, Soul felt regret, and not because of what he hadn't done for how he had lived. Soul felt regret in how he hadn't died.

He thought, as he stared at the blood pooling around his broken form, that if he hadn't died to save Maka, his death was pointless. And that was his last thought.

Maka.

Giriko was standing, bent over and digging through the scythe's suitcase to try and find anything of value that he could sell to gain some cash. He straightened up for a moment as he glanced behind himself at his former target. The teen was laying there on his back, gashes covering his unmoving chest. The blood from his wounds was staining his leather jacket, and the injury on his head was soaking his formerly white hair in pools of red.

"What a stupid death." He muttered, grabbing some designer clothes and an iPod from the scythe's bag as he stole back to Medusa to boast his victory.

* * *

"What's going on?" A Kid asked, looking behind Tsubaki and into the apartment. "What's wrong with Maka?"

Tsubaki sighed. "You'd better come in." She murmured, holding the door open to allow the young Shinigamis in. The four Kids entered and sat upon the couch next to each other as the Dark Arm before them faced them with sad eyes.

"Maka spilt up her partnership with Soul, and then Soul left. He took a big suitcase; I don't think he's coming back." She shook with grief, her voice breaking.

The Kids shook their heads. "I predicted this much." The original sighed.

"But why would she do that?" Tsubaki said. "They've been partners for as long as I've been going to the Academy!"

"It's true that the reason behind their actions is not as perceptible." The first clone stated.

"However," Began the second, "You don't have to dig deep to find it."

"Dude, you're starting to sound like Uncle Iroh." Black*Star muttered, still sitting at the kitchen table wearing a bored expression.

"Who?" The second clone raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You have an Uncle?"

"No, stupid. Iroh, from Avatar: The Last… Forget it." The young ninja replied, turning away from the group. He too, was upset at Soul's absence, but instead of questioning it or thinking too much about it, he sulked. He told himself that his friend was just possibly trying to let off some steam, and resolved that if he wasn't back in a few days that he would chase after his friend and whip the scythe's butt himself for not coming back to his star earlier.

"Anyway," The third clone continued, "Their reason for their break-up is because Maka is tired of seeing Soul hurt. Remember that Soul was kidnapped by Medusa for trying to protect his meister. Neither one of them want the other to suffer because of them."

"So, drawing from that conclusion, another apparent fact would be," The original began, "That they both care for each other very much. So much that they'd put their life on the line for each other. However both are too prideful to admit their feelings or realize that they're shared."

Tsubaki's eyes widened, then she watched the ground. "I guess that's true…" She said quietly, but was interrupted by the crashing of pots followed by a loud shout of pain.

"OW!"

Tsubaki, both confused and concerned, ran into the kitchen. "Was that you, Crona?" She asked, looking around for the child.

"Yeah…" Crona said. His voice sounded muffled as he continued; "Maka won't come out of her room again, so I wanted to make her happy, so I wanted to make her spaghetti, which makes me happy, so I was looking for the pots and pans and found them in this cabinet down here, and I stuck my head in here, but I don't think it'll come out…"

Tsubaki glanced down and gasped, realizing she had been about to step on the young Gorgon. Or his lower half. Crona was leaning forward while sitting on his knees, but from just below his arms to his head, nothing could be seen of the boy that had managed to wedge himself in the small cabinet beneath the sink.

"Black*Star!" exclaimed Tsubaki. "Why didn't you stop him?"

Still sulking, Black*Star simply shrugged in reply. Shaking her head in exasperation, the Dark Arm knelt down next to Crona. "Crona, can you move backward and pull out?"

"No." Crona murmured. "I'm holding myself up with my arms, which are splayed out. My elbows are long and are stuck behind the upright dividers here, and they won't bend the right way to pull me out. And my head's pressed into the bottom of the sink."

"How are we going to get him out of there?" A clone asked.

"I'm sure I don't know." Sighed the original, standing.

"Where are you going?" Asked another clone as Kid began to walk towards the door. "I'm going home. It's obvious I can't do much here, I might as well be repairing my home."

"We'll come." Said two duplicates as they followed their original, but one stayed behind.

"I think I'll stay and help with Crona." He said.

"Fine with us." Said the other three.

"Just don't destroy yourself." Added the original before he turned to Tsubaki, Crona, and Black*Star. "See you. We're going to repair our home from Hurricane Patty, and then see if we can come back and help with Maka." He said, then closed the door behind them.

* * *

Maka emerged from her room a while later. She had managed to halt her sobs, but her eyes and nose were still red. But upon reaching the living room, she was met with one of the strangest sights of her life.

"Have we tried conditioner?"

"Yes."

"Butter?"

"We've nearly used up the butter."

"Not to sound rude, but, um, could you hurry up? My arms are getting numb from being in the same position for so long."

"We're working on it."

"Vegetable oil?"

"Let's try vegetable oil."

"He's starting to smell weird."

"What do you expect? We've used Maka's cherry-scented conditioner, butter and now we're using vegetable oil."

"Ew, it's slimy…"

"Deal with it."

"Black*Star, don't be rude!"

"ANYWAY, it's no surprise he's starting to smell like a buttered cherry covered in vegetable oil."

"I don't know how to deal with smelling like buttered cherry covered in vegetable oil…"

"What's going on?" Maka finally had the courage to ask as she observed the bickering of a Kid clone, Tsubaki, Black*Star, the stuck Crona, and Blair, who had evidently shown up at some point.

"Well," The aforementioned cat began, "Crona's stuck under the sink."

"I can see that." Maka rolled her eyes.

"And we're trying to get him out." Continued the Kid. "We've tried everything we can think of to make him slippery, but nothing's working."

"You'd think a kid this skinny would be easier to get out of a cabinet." Black*Star muttered, still throwing a snit.

"That's the last of it." Tsubaki said after pouring every ounce of vegetable oil upon the pink-haired boy so he could slide out. She grabbed Crona's waist as Black*Star had the same to her, Kid did the same to him, and Blair did the same to Kid.

"Join in, Maka!" Blair smiled. "We're gonna try and get Crona out!"

Maka sighed, grabbing Blair's waist and trying to push down her opinions on the awkwardness of the situation.

"All right, everybody." Tsubaki began. "On three. One…"

"THREE!" Black*Star exclaimed, jerking back. After brief hesitation, and some reprimanding at a certain ninja, everyone pulled back. After a cry from Crona, he popped free. Everyone fell back upon each other like dominoes.

"Yay!" Crona exclaimed joyously. "I can move my arms again!"

"Ow…" Kid groaned. "Black*Star, please remove yourself from on top of me."

"I can't get up until Tsubaki does!" The blue-haired boy snapped.

"I never realized how cute you were!" Blair purred at Kid, her arms still around his waist. "Cute little Grim Reaper!" She pulled the boy closer as the aforementioned Reaper gasped in surprise.

"Blair, this is highly undignified-!"

"Guys, I can't breathe!" Maka gasped from the bottom of the pile. Everyone quickly hurried off and stood, while Crona offered a hand to help his friend.

"You all right, Maka?" Crona asked. "I wanted to make you spaghetti, but I got stuck trying to find a pot…"

"That's all right, Crona." Maka smiled gently, but raised an eyebrow as she watched the Kid wriggle out of Blair's arms and make a run for it.

"I'm gonna catch you, Reaper boy!" Blair giggled, running after him around the kitchen table. Shaking her head, Maka allowed herself to relax. She'd be fine without Soul, she realized, when she was surrounded by such great friends. It was then, as soon as she grew comfortable, that her soul was jolted.

Losing all balance as she felt as if her chest had just been hit by a meteorite, Maka collapsed. Crona gasped, grabbing his friend's arm before she hit the ground and dragging her into a chair.

"Maka! Maka! Are you okay?" The concerned boy exclaimed as the blonde's eyes tried to focus on the world around her.

"I-I don't know…" Maka felt dizzy as she tried to figure out what was happening to her. Kid paused to stare at her, holding Blair off with his arms.

"What happened?"

"I said I don't know!" Maka snapped, gritting her teeth in the pain that was shooting through her chest. "It's like my chest's being ripped apart!"

The Kid's eyes widened. "Maka." He said slowly. Blair stopped once she realized the seriousness of the situation and the young Reaper continued. "Is your soul perception working? Because we need to find Soul. Now."

Maka watched her friend. "Why?" She asked, clutching her head.

"Because you feel as if your chest is being torn up because your soul IS getting torn up." The Kid explained. "I've heard of this before. If you're feeling this, we need to get to Soul. His soul was so tied to yours that if his in danger, you'll feel this kind of pain."

Maka's eyes widened as well as she stood, albeit shakily. "What's wrong with Soul?!"

She didn't wait for an explanation. Conveniently leaving Blair behind, Maka, with Crona behind her to support her lest she stumble in pain, ran to find her former partner. Tsubaki, Black*Star, and the Kid followed suit, chasing after the girl.

She saw the red before she recognized him.

Blood.

So much blood.

She thought she heard herself scream, but she couldn't be sure. Maybe she cried out his name. She didn't know. Everything was in slow motion as the world continued to spin around her, and yet another figure was thrown into the hurricane raging through her head to be tossed about by the wind and blood-red rain. She didn't notice his suitcase, with items strewn all over the small square. She didn't notice that his attacker was nowhere to be seen, and in fact she didn't even connect the dots to realize he had even been attacked. She didn't know how and didn't want to grasp it. All she knew was that her partner was motionless upon the ground, bleeding heavily.

She knelt next to him, clutching him in her arms. Burying her dainty nose in his shoulder, she cried once again. Tsubaki, shaking in fear, clutched his wrist to check for a pulse. Suddenly she stiffened.

"Maka." She said slowly. Maka didn't need to hear any more; she knew from her friend's tone of voice that her news wouldn't be good. She began to shake uncontrollably, and then screamed into his bloodied hair.

"SOUL!"

It was faint at first, and it came with no fanfare. No triumphant glow or noise, just a quiet sound. Maka couldn't believe her ears when she heard it and convinced herself she was dreaming until it was joined by another sound.

A tiny heartbeat, followed by gentle breaths.

Tsubaki's eyes widened once again. "Maka, do you hear that?" She gasped, still holding Soul's wrist. The blonde nodded, her own eyes wide as she listened intently.

Soul's tiny heartbeat, followed by his gentle breaths.

* * *

**The spaghetti-loving Crona thing is a shout-out to TheSymmetricalist's fanfic "Keyboards and Writer's Block". :) Sorry this is so late, but it was Christmas. I'm sure you understand. See ya next chap!**


	12. Time of Dying

**Here's 12! :D And the end still isn't here… 12 was originally the intended amount of chapters. My story is starting to run away from me LOL *I disclaim* Sorry, no fun name for this chapter. I'm out of ideas. Besides, that song is awesome. *I no own Three Days Grace's song I use for the title, or the movie quote I later either* (Try and find the quote ;)**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 12**

**Time of Dying**

* * *

You've heard the stories. It is said that when one dies, the events of their life flash before their vision. The dying figure then relives all their memories very swiftly, remembering all they're leaving as they fade from this world. The images are probably swift, flashes of recollections until the last point in their life the poor soul can remember. But these are only assumptions.

After losing all strength, Soul's eyes had fluttered closed. And indeed, images flashed before his closed irises, backwards from that point. Giriko's attack, Maka's declared break-up, his capture by Medusa. The scenes flew by swifter, zooming past at alarming rates. Getting locked in Crona's closet, the fight with Asura, the Kishin's revival, fighting Blair for their one-hundredth soul…

Suddenly they stopped, and the vision was large and clear. All the madness halted to bring this one memory to life. Soul remembered it as if he was there once again.

He had been playing his heart out upon that piano in the music room, pouring all his frustration into it. It was his first day at the DWMA, but absolutely no one wanted to be partners with the obscure shark-toothed boy with red eyes that rivaled a vampire's. Soul had been forced to do the only thing he was good at; play the piano. No one would want to listen, of that he was sure, and frankly he didn't care. This was how he spoke his mind. This was what he poured his all into. That had been how he was raised. Got some emotion under your skin you need to get out? Play some music. However, his parent's disapproval for Soul's personal style was obvious, and he hadn't been able to play it much. So his playing in the dimly-lit music room that day was a pouring out of his emotions; not only frustration at his lack of social skills and everyone else not giving him a chance, but to also express his freedom.

"You put a lot of passion in your playing."

A girl's voice suddenly reached his ears. He didn't stop playing, but his skills were fine-tuned enough that he could talk and continue his piece at the same time.

"Yeah." Soul replied curtly, trying to apply a 'get lost, you'll hate me like everyone else' tone into his voice, but the girl obviously didn't get the message.

"What's it called?" He heard her footsteps draw nearer upon the linoleum floor.

"I dunno." Soul said. "Making it up as I go along. It doesn't have a name."

"You made it up yourself?"

Soul's fingers hovered in mid-air above the keys. There was something in the voice of the young female that he had never heard from anyone when they talked of his music.

"That's amazing." She spoke in wonder. "I wish I could play something like that."

Soul was silent for a few more seconds before he resumed his on-the-spot composing. "You can."

"No I can't. I've never even touched a piano in my life." The girl now sounded embarrassed.

"It's not so much playing," The scythe continued, "As is showing off yourself. This song," He struck a discordant note, "Is me."

The girl was silent. "It sounds sad."

"Yep." Soul replied.

"And lonely." The voice paused, and then added quietly, "And kind of dark."

The silver-haired boy allowed a smirk to creep onto his face. "You got it." He chuckled as he continued to play. "Good job. What's your name?"

"Maka Albarn. I'm a meister." The girl introduced herself.

"Maka Albarn." Soul sounded out her name. "Cool name. You got a weapon partner, Maka?"

"No…" The girl sighed. "No one will get to know me. My first day, and I'm instantly labeled as a nerd because I'm carrying books around. So I'm immediately an outcast."

"That's funny." Chuckled Soul. "Sounds like what happened to me."

The girl could be heard giggling a tiny bit. "The we've already found something in common."

Striking the last note, the young scythe held the key down long and loud. After the sound had entirely faded into silence, Soul turned to face Maka, still smirking.

"How'd you like to have a scythe as your weapon partner, Maka Albarn?" He proposed, holding his hand out. His eyes focused upon those of the blonde's, viewing the soft gleam from deep in her emerald orbs for the very first time. He liked it. "Name's Soul Evans." He grinned as she smiled and took his hand, shaking it. "But call me Soul Eater."

The memories then stopped. Soul was confused for a moment as to why he wasn't shown more, but then realization came to him as he let himself fall into the deep darkness that was his death. There were no more memories of his life.

It was there, in that music room, that his life truly began.

* * *

"He's alive."

Maka finally allowed herself to breathe those words. She released Soul slightly, still holding him up as she stared into his face. His mouth was slightly open, and the blonde could feel the breath gently pushed from his lips.

"H-how is he alive?" The teen questioned, setting the scythe down as she put a hand to his heart and felt it beating.

Tsubaki was silent, shaking her head in wonder.

Meanwhile, Black*Star looked ready to tear down the city in rage. "What a great friend HE was! Dying after he ran off like a… A total idiot!" He cried, punching a nearby lamppost rapidly until it bent and collapsed. "Some friend…" He panted. Using anger to mask his sorrow, he went on to destroy another piece of public property.

"Black*Star!" The Kid clone shouted. "Stop destroying the symmetry of this square for one moment so that you can see he's alive!"

The young ninja stopped dead in his vandalism to whip around to the broken form of his friend. Upon noticing the rise and fall of the scythe's chest, the blue-haired boy's mood rapidly because its total opposite.

"YAHOO!" He cheered, jumping in the air as he fist-pumped. "SOUL'S ALIVE BECAUSE I ARRIVED AND DISPLAYED MY AWESOMENESS BEFORE HIM!"

"You keep on believing that…" Crona stared at the narcissist.

"But I don't understand." Maka murmured, running her hand through Soul's hair. She glanced back at Kid. "I was sure he was dead."

"Well, he was." The Kid walked forward to Maka. "In the scientific sense. True, his heart stopped beating and he stopped breathing. But his soul remained." He knelt next to the two, Tsubaki having stood and wandered over to her meister to celebrate with him.

"That's great, Black*Star!" Tsubaki smiled warmly, watching her meister celebrate his 'victory'.

"You're encouraging him?" Crona asked skeptically.

"Is there really anything else I can do?" Tsubaki replied sheepishly.

Crona sighed. "I guess not."

"So your own soul, Maka," The Kid continued, "Acted like a magnet to Soul's. While he was on the very edge of life and death, you pulled him back simply by being by his side." He smiled gently. "Souls are magnificent things, aren't they?"

Maka smiled as well, if only slightly, as she hugged Soul again.

Feeling a tight pain in his chest, Soul's eyes fluttered.

"_This can't be right._" He thought, trying to make sense of the world beyond his blurred vision. "_I'm supposed to be dead, aren't I? This sure looks weirdly like Death City in the evening._" He struggled to examine his surroundings.

"Soul?"

Maka's voice sounded far away, or possibly underwater. He tried to rasp out a reply as emerald eyes met his, but blood gargled up his throat. Coughing, he realized that he couldn't speak at the moment. He raised his weak hand to the girl's face, flashing a small smile.

"We should get him home." Kid said, standing. "Crona, Tsubaki, round up Soul's things and put them back in his suitcase. Black*Star, I need you to help me carry him."

Maka put her hand up to Soul's. "You'll be okay." She whispered softly. "I'll make sure of it."

Soul couldn't understand what his former meister was saying, but he noticed the calmness and joy in her eyes and assumed that she spoke good news. He nodded exhaustively as he tried to ignore the pain from his chest and head. He knew all that pain would be over soon.

Maka would make sure of it.

* * *

"At least it seems as if the house hasn't collapsed." A clone tried to console Kid. "That's good, right?" The exterior of Gallows Manor was now within sight of the group of three Reapers.

"I guess…" The original sighed. "I just hope that Patty's got that unsightly mess taken care of."

The second clone shrugged. "I'm sure she has, as long as Liz has been responsible and is overseeing her sister's progress."

The three halted and exchanged skeptical glances. "Liz is never responsible." Said the first. All three began rushing forward in a mad haste to analyze the damage to their home, the original in the lead.

"The original one is much too easy to point out now that you're wearing different shirts." Noted Medusa.

The small band whipped around just as arrows rose from the ground and destroyed the two clones, creating a veil of smoke and sound that temporarily masked the witch's approach. Coughing and trying to regain his hearing after the loud explosions that had went off right next to his ears, Kid waved the smoke away, only to discover a hand shooting through the debris and grabbing his neck.

"Don't speak or cry for help." Medusa grinned. "Your house is right over there. I know exactly where your weapon partners live, and I'm capable of killing them in an instant of you don't cooperate."

Kid heard Medusa's voice as a mumble at first, but her threat was comprehensible. The young Reaper stopped struggling, but his gold eyes were filled with hate directed towards the Snake Witch. It was then that he felt the sudden stinging pain in his ankle. Glancing down, Kid discovered the snake with its poisoned fangs embedded in his leg, the venom slowly weakening him.

"Just enough venom to put you to sleep." Medusa crooned, gripping Kid's neck tighter as she grinned. "Sweet dreams."

Kid felt as if he only blinked, but the scenery around him changed dramatically after he closed his eyes and opened them again.

"Comfortable?" Medusa chuckled as she finished clasping the metal bonds that held the young Reaper's wrists and arms to the examination table. "Here's your situation." She continued, leaning over as her head hovered above the teen. "You're being held for ransom. Stein is over there, asleep in his lab chair. He's quite mad at the moment. You have until he wakes up and possibly kills you to tell me the number of your father so I can call him and discuss your release."

Kid turned his head away in defiance. "Why would I tell you that? Other than the obvious threat of my death. But you'd ask for something despicable in exchange for me, and I won't let you do that simply because my life's in danger." He snapped.

"You forget, Death the Kid," Medusa began. "That I know where your partners are. Not only your life is on the line here."

Kid stiffened. "You won't hurt them." He growled. "They're innocent of all this. You wouldn't dare."

Medusa shrugged. "You think I care about hurting the innocent?" She leaned back and away from Kid, walking over to the sleeping form of Stein. The mad scientist was slumped over the back side of his wheeled lab chair, snoring gently. His expression looked peaceful, as a result of his ideas of reality and dreams had turned on their heads. Medusa pushed his hair away from his face gently, smirking. "My madman."

Kid made a disgusted face. "That's sick." He gagged. "Really it is."

The Snake Witch glared at the ebony-haired teen. "You're in no position to be cocky, Reaper." She growled. "What's your father's number?" She walked over to a nearby mirror hanging upon a wall. "Tell me, or I unleash all my snakes on your house."

Kid was starting to panic, but the sophisticated boy didn't easily let that emotion show. Suddenly an idea hit him like a lightning strike of brilliancy. "How about a riddle?" He smirked. Medusa glared at him.

"Are you toying with me?"

"Not at all." Kid assured her. "I'm just thinking that a mastermind such as you could solve a simple riddle as to the phone number of my Dad."

Medusa tried not to look buttered-up, but she couldn't deny her growing pride. "Well?" She muttered. "Let's have it."

Kid chuckled slightly. "All right then. Written a certain way in the original language of the Grim Reaper, Dad's number can also translate as 'Death, Death, Murder'."

The Snake Witch remained collected, not displaying her confusion. "And what's the original language of the Grim Reaper?" She asked, causing Kid to chuckle even more.

"Figure it out. You're a smart witch." He smirked. "Or are you?"

Medusa tried to run over facts in her head that she could recall about the Lords of Death. "Say something in that language." She demanded.

"No." Kid replied nonchalantly, implying fake but believable feelings of boredom.

Medusa wracked her brain for another minute, causing Kid to chuckle. "You, with all your knowledge of madness and Kishin, can't figure out a simple riddle involving Dad's language. You don't really know your enemy very well, now do you?"

Snake Witch's temper burst at the teen's last remark as she slammed her hand down on the metal examination table, causing its surface to wobble. "I've had enough of your games, boy! Tell me what your father's number is, and I'll burn your house to the ground!"

Kid raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean 'or'?" He asked innocently, causing Medusa to grit her teeth.

"FINE! Tell me what your father's number is OR I'll burn your house to the ground!"

Kid put on an expression of mock confusion. "Well, which is it? That seems like a pretty crucial conjunction." He noted. The witch before him clenched her fists, ready to kick over Stein's lab chair to wake the professor, when luck shone on her.

"Stein? Oh Stein? It's me again. I need to talk about your lesson plan for the upcoming week."

The rage drained from Medusa's face as she stood there dumbfounded. But after a moment, slowly a dark grin crept over her face. "Speak of the devil." She purred, turning and striding over to the mirror from whence the voice came. "Hello, Death." She smirked.

On the surface of the mirror, rather than the witch's reflection, was the masked face of Lord Death. "Medusa." He said quietly after noticing the face of the Snake Witch upon his mirror and not Stein's. Portraying as much seriousness as was possible in his comical voice, the Grim Reaper continued; "What are you doing alive and in Stein's laboratory?"

"I wasn't killed efficiently." Medusa shrugged. "Blame the Albarn girl and her pathetic excuse for a scythe. As for what I'm doing in Stein's lab," She moved out of the way of the mirror's view, revealing to the Shinigami the form of his bound and shirtless son. "I'm holding this one captive. But I'll let him go if you agree to my terms."

"Don't listen to her!" Kid shouted. "For once Dad, take this seriously, have some sense, and leave me here!" He exclaimed.

The emotionless face of the Grim Reaper was silent for a moment. Suddenly he spoke on a low voice; "What are your terms?"

Kid's fists clenched, enraged at his father's evident gullibility. This rage caused him to speak his mind, yelling at the Reaper at the top of his lungs and in his first language; "BAKA!"

Medusa stared at Kid, then began to laugh triumphantly. "Thanks for telling me the original language of the Grim Reaper," She smirked. "Young Shinigami."

Kid glared at both of them. "Not like it matters anymore." He muttered. Medusa turned back to the mirror, a smirk still playing on her lips.

"My terms are pretty simple." She walked up to the mirror until she was face-to-face with the Grim Reaper. "I want the Academy. The building, the surrounding property, the whole deal. I want you and your comrades out. It's going to be all mine before I release your son." She told him, causing Lord Death to be silent once again. The entire room was quiet; Kid and Medusa stood stone still, awaiting the Reaper's decision. Stein had even stopped snoring.

After Kid was sure that the suspense hanging over the air like an anvil waiting to drop would kill him before Stein would, the hushed voice of his father entered the air once again.

"All right. Release Kid."

The teen stiffened, staring in horror and disbelief at the image of his father upon the mirror, while Medusa began to release his metal binds. "You didn't." The teen breathed. "You couldn't have." He whispered as the Snake Witch passed him his shirt, still wearing an expression of triumph.

"You have an hour to clear out." She told the Grim Reaper. "Then I'm coming in."

Kid was shaking. He didn't know what Medusa wanted with the Academy building, but he knew he should expect the worst. "Why did you do that?" He continued to murmur at his father, but was too soft for him to hear. "Why would you let that witch have the DWMA?" His voice gradually rose. "Why did you do something so stupid?!" He was shouting now. "I would've been FINE! What's my life for the sake of the possibility of watching this WHOLE CITY BURN?!" He yelled before racing out. Slipping his t-shirt on as he went, he ran through the doors and back to Gallows Manor for Liz and Patty. It it was the last thing he did, he was going to destroy that witch in a flurry of gunshots.

As the shrouded face of Lord Death faded from the mirror's image, Medusa found herself laughing again. Striding over to him, she shook Stein gently. "Good morning, Stein." She chuckled as the professor stirred. "How was reality?"

Stein leaned up, his movements unnatural like a puppet with loose strings. "I don't remember..." He murmured, having not dreamed at all.

"I thought you might not." Medusa crooned. "It's because this dream world is so much better, isn't it?" She ran a finger along the edge of the bolt through the scientist's head, who nodded jerkily.

"Uh-huh."

"Well, do you know what happened while you were asleep, Stein?" The Snake Witch smirked at the apparent confusion upon Franken's face. "I captured another Reaper for you. One that wouldn't blow up." She whispered, leaning in close to his ear. "But it escaped. It took off for Gallows Manor." She chuckled darkly as the scientist began to grin sadistically. "Go get him."

Stein instantly took off like a dog chasing a bacon-scented Frisbee, leaving his lab chair spinning and his witch laughing.

* * *

**Soul's backstory... Just something I thought I'd throw in there that was slightly touched upon in the anime. If it goes differnt in the manga, sue me. (Not literally, please. XD) My explanation for Kid's first language being Japanese: In the manga, despite it being clearly stated that Death City is in Nevada, Lord Death keeps his Japanese title of "Shinigami", and goes on to call his Academy "Shibusen". Just a theory. (By the way for those of you who don't know: the word Kid used, "baka", is a Japanese insult similar to "fool".) See ya next chap!**


	13. Pride and Predictability

**Welcome to Chapter 13. :) *I disclaim* Me no own the band I reference, either. Or Dorito's.**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 13**

**Pride and Predictability**

* * *

There are things that drive us; pushing us towards our goal. Whether our destination is mental, spiritual, or physical, we must have some sort of motivation, or we won't reach it. For some, the goal is the prospect of money or riches. For others, perhaps solitude or peace is what they're after. But on rare occasions, one drive and goal arrives that may strike us as entirely insane. Most likely it is, indeed, insane.

Stein couldn't name his drive; all he could label was his prize, his destination. He was going to tear something apart and see how it worked. He remembered how, as a child, he used to do the same with toys, such as wind-up trains or remote-control cars, picking them to pieces and examining and experimenting with every gear and wire. Then he came to the realization that he could do the same to living things. Since then he had dissected nearly everything, but it had been made known to him that some things were off-limits. At least they were in reality. But in his so-called dream world, the scientist was eager to push his boundaries and see how much he could get away with. Starting with dismantling the son of the Lord of Death.

Kid heard the footsteps behind him, but he didn't dare turn around to name his pursuer. He needed to get home and grab his guns before he was ready to face anyone in combat. As his home came into view, the young Reaper put on a sudden burst of speed and sprinted inside the door.

"Patty! Liz!" Kid called. "Stop what you're doing! I need your weapon forms!"

"But I'm cleaning the house for you." Patty poked her head from around a corner. "There's still bazillions more pounds of Silly String hanging off the walls."

"We can bother with that later!" Kid shouted. He was slightly disappointed in himself for seemingly not caring about the well-being of the perfect symmetry of his home, but there were bigger fish to fry at the moment. "Right now I'm being chased by a madman and Medusa's going to take over the Academy! I need both of you here right n-OW!" His demand soon turned into a cry of pain as Stein slammed his wavelength-sparking fist into the teen's back.

"Ready to be in pieces?" The scientist grinned madly as Kid turned around swiftly, grabbing Patty's weapon form as she shifted and flew through the air into her meister's hand.

"Where's Liz?!" Kid exclaimed, merely dodging Stein's attacks for the time being as to not attack asymmetrically.

"I dunno," replied Patty calmly. "I think she went back to her room."

Kid dared to glance behind himself for one minute at the staircase. "Here goes." He sighed, watching Stein for a few more seconds before he whipped around and ran for his life. Laughing manically, Stein followed at his heels.

"You can't run faster than me, Kid!" He grinned.

"I'm aware of that!" Kid cried, darting into Liz's room and slamming the door behind him. "Liz!" He shouted.

Liz looked up from her laptop before giving her meister a quizzical stare. "What is it, Kid?" She asked. "Everything all right?"

Kid's eyes widened in shock. "You seriously haven't heard the loud battle noises coming from downstairs?" He exclaimed, his back pressed against the door that Stein continued to throw himself into like a battering ram. "Or the mad scientist trying to break down your door?!"

Liz looked confused for another moment, but then reached up to her ear and removed a small headphone that had been hidden by her long hair. Owl City music blasted from the small device. "Sorry, what was that?" She said.

After rolling his eyes, Kid merely snapped; "Weapon form, Liz!"

"All right." It was Liz's turn to roll her eyes as her form changed. "Chill." Muttering, her metal pistol form flew into Kid's hand. It was near perfect timing, for at that moment Stein burst through the door.

"Oh, I see you've got your guns!" He chuckled, throwing his palm at Kid again before the latter dodged. "Shoot me! Betcha can't," He giggled crazily.

"Why's Stein acting all funny?" Patty questioned.

"Medusa drove him mad again," Kid replied, dodging another attack. "Don't ask how she's back. It's a long story."

"Well hurry up and shoot him down!" Liz cried. "He's destroying my room!"

In all honesty, Kid was hesitant to shoot his professor. He didn't want to harm him, just possibly bring him back to his senses, but he had no idea how to do that. He also knew that when he was sane, he was one of his father's strongest allies.

It was the thought of his father that caused Kid to rethink the situation. His gullible father that took nothing seriously. The young Reaper's expression became a glare as he watched Stein. "After I bring you back to your senses," He raised both of his guns, pointing them at the professor, "Dad's next."

The wavelength blast from the dual gunshots sent Stein staggering back a few feet. "Impressive." Despite his setback, the mad scientist continued to grin. "You're an interesting specimen."

Kid's expression hardened. "Stop talking about me as if I'm a common lab rat!" He shouted, holding his hands out and firing rapidly. However, Stein had caught on to his rhythm and was easily dodging every attack.

"Once I've caught on to you," He smirked, "You're very easy to predict."

Kid's golden eyes stared coldly at the professor. "Right," He muttered. "Bet you didn't predict this." The Shinigami abruptly charged forward, slamming into Stein and threatening to knock him over the balcony that dropped off over the downstairs hall. Stein teetered backwards, trying to find his balance, before Kid ducked beneath him and slid his arm under the scientist's feet. Giving a great heave, Kid reared his arm up, causing Stein to lose all balance and catapult over the railing.

"Didja get 'im?" Patty asked as Kid watched Stein fall onto the black-and-white tilted floor below, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. The latter laid there for a few brief seconds, his chest rising and falling in rapid attempts to restore air to the lungs the impact had knocked the wind out of. Slowly he stood, his gaze turning upward to face Kid.

"No." Kid replied in response to Patty's question. "He's still alive. But hopefully he'll listen to sense now." He leaned over the balcony, watching Stein. "Are you ready to call off this foolish attempt to dissect your master's son?" He called. His answer came quickly, and Kid had to duck to avoid it embedding itself in his skull. He glanced behind himself at the scalpel that had flown into the wall instead. "That was rather curt." The teen muttered to himself. Temporarily holding both Liz and Patty in one hand, Kid skillfully swung around and off the banister, landing nimbly and unharmed upon the floor below.

"I had hoped you would listen to reason." The young Reaper sighed, returning Patty to his right palm. "But it seems I'll have to eliminate you instead." He declared, firing once more at Stein. The professor managed to dodge again, however, causing the shot to whizz past him and shatter a vase upon the wall behind him. Kid abruptly ceased fire and stiffened.

"Look at what you made me do!" He shouted in horror. "There is now a whole vase upon the right side of this room and a shattered vase on the left! The symmetry is RUINED!" He cried agonizingly, too focused on the destruction of perfection before him to notice the nearby threat to his life.

"Kid, behind you!" Liz shouted, but her warning arrived too late.

Kid stiffened as he felt the scalpel on his neck.

"You wouldn't believe how many of these I have in my pockets." Stein grinned, his arm around Kid's neck. The scalpel he held in his hand was barely pressed into the skin directly below the Reaper's chin. "I must dissect your brain as well. I need to know why you put so much of your energy towards symmetry." He said.

Kid was unmoving. "Symmetry…" He murmured after a while, and then slowly chuckled. "It's hardly something you would understand, is it? Have you even seen your head?" He then moved like lightning, pulling his arm around and pressing Patty into Stein's abdomen before the professor even had time to think. "I do believe the lab's closed for the day." He said before he fired.

* * *

It had taken Giriko a while to find Medusa. He had absolutely no means of anything that resembled soul perception in the slightest, so he had to merely follow his assumptions. He tried out anywhere he thought she might hide; the abandoned warehouse on 5th street, around the Academy, even the pet shop, of all things. Stein's lab was the last thing that occurred to him, and by that time Medusa was strolling out to claim the DWMA. Upon seeing her, the chainsaw rushed forward to the witch.

"Medusa!" He shouted, coming to a stop in front of her. "I did it. The scythe's dead." He proclaimed, but then held out his hand. "Now where's my dough?"

Medusa looked Giriko up and down. There was blood on his boots and fists, and he certainly looked sincere. However, she knew she could wriggle out of giving him his reward, and immediately deployed her first tactic to do so.

"Where's the body?" Asked Medusa. "Or at least his head. I specifically remember saying; 'bring me the head of Soul Evans on a platter'. I see no head and I see no platter. And until I see them, you're not getting your money." She said curtly, pushing past the man who now looked enraged.

"How was I to know you were being literal?" Giriko snapped. "Besides, dead's dead, right?"

"Dead does not necessarily mean beheaded. And I wanted beheaded." The Snake Witch replied. Giriko gritted his sharpened teeth.

"No way, witch. I came for my money. I only did this stinkin' job for my money!" He growled.

Medusa's gold eyes scanned Giriko's for a moment, before she turned back around. "I told you no," She said.

"Whuddaya mean, 'no'?!" Giriko shouted, his lips curled back in an animal-like snarl. "I should've expected this from a cheating, cheap witch like you!"

Medusa stopped walking. Without turning around, she addressed the man; "Now, don't start throwing accusations. I'm not cheating you or cheap. I could give you the money, but you obviously don't deserve it." She shrugged calmly. "It's as simple as that."

Giriko looked like he was ready to tell the Snake Witch off at the top of his lungs when she spoke again.

"I'd suggest keeping quiet. I am perfectly able to report you to the authorities, telling them that a man who has repeatedly attempted to murder their forces is residing in this very city." She turned to face him, a smirk clear and cocky upon her lips. "Besides, you pickpocketed him, right? Get some money off of that." She told him before she continued her walk, fully confident in herself.

Giriko stood there for a minute, dumbfounded. "How'd she know about the pickpocketing…?" He muttered quietly to himself.

Upon hearing this, Medusa said behind her shoulder without turning around; "You're a very easy man to predict, Giriko." She chuckled. The chainsaw glared at her before he stormed off, trying to find a route through town that wouldn't cross the witch's path. It wasn't a difficult feat, because while Medusa simply made a beeline for the DWMA, Giriko knew all the back roads and alleys that enabled him to travel inconspicuously.

He quickly located the black market he so frequently visited. The chainsaw proceeded to saunter up to a clothing booth and deposit Soul's designer clothes upon the table. "How much you want for these, Ryker?" He smirked, his mood restored at the prospect of hitting more cash.

The day's spoils resulted in a total of five hundred greenbacks; Three hundred fifty for the clothes, and one hundred fifty for the iPod. He tried to get more for the small orange device, but the man behind the desk proclaimed that it was too scratched up and worn to be of much worth, and then proceeded to name the price of one hundred dollars for it. After much arguing, cussing, and pointing out of the expensive case for the thing that Soul had managed to acquire, the price was finally raised to one hundred and fifty. There was still much high-volume bargaining that followed, but the chainsaw lost that round and grudgingly took the cash he got.

Giriko's mood rose again, however, as he strolled back to his apartment. The gears in his head started to turn as he came up with a way to earn even more money from his spoils. "I am so beating Robert at poker this time." He grinned. Having obviously not learned his lesson, the chainsaw was already planning his gambling spree.

* * *

"Slowly… Carefully… Don't drop him…"

"Yeah, 'cause if I drop him, I'll get a dictionary through my head. Right, Maka?"

"Right." Maka said coldly, but was smiling. Oddly enough, the smile wouldn't drain from her face. She was beginning to want to slap off the expression off of herself, and it didn't help that the first thing Soul was able to say was;

"You look like an idiot, smiling like that."

Resisting the urge to cause more damage to the scythe's head, Maka merely continued to smile. For while she was irritated that her partner wasn't even thanking her for saving his life, she was glad he was alive. Gladness aside, she was still going to reprimand him on how grateful he should be to her as soon as they were alone.

"Ow…" Soul groaned.

"What was that for, Black*Star?" The remaining clone of Kid exclaimed. "The door's over here! Stop shoving his head into the wall!" Kid had a grip on Soul's right arm, while Black*Star held up his left and Crona supported his legs. Tsubaki was trundling the suitcase behind them, and Maka hadn't left Soul's side since she had seen him on the ground. Currently they were trying to get Soul in the door of the apartment building, and everyone was discovering that Black*Star, for all his "awesomeness", was a total failure at walking backwards. This was the fourth time Soul's head had been slammed into a doorway, dumpster, or lamppost since they left the square, due to the young ninja's horrible guidance.

"Hey, my buddy Soul can handle it, right?" Black*Star grinned, looking down into the face of his friend that displayed obvious annoyance.

"No. It hurts." He muttered. "I don't see why I couldn't have walked by myself."

"Because you're weak and still losing blood." Maka replied matter-of-factly. "That was a pretty bad wound."

"Wound? I have a ton of 'em. Use the plural." Soul chuckled slightly, showing off his pointed teeth, but his smile was slightly deformed due to the multiple bruises and swellings upon his face from where his attacker had punched him. "He beat me around like a punching bag."

Maka sighed. The scythe was so good-natured about this. If it had been her, she would've gone after her attacker the minute she was conscious, swearing revenge. Meanwhile, Soul was totally relaxed, and hadn't said anything about whoever nearly killed him other than what he just noted. Summing up her courage, she went straight out and asked him; "Who was it that did this to you, Soul?"

The smirk drained from Soul's face as he grew silent. "It doesn't matter, Maka." He said. "He's not worth our time. Just drop the subject." Ruby eyes met emerald as he gazed at his partner. It was then that Black*Star dropped not only the subject, but the scythe himself.

"OW!" Soul cried out. "What the heck, Black*Star?!"

"Forget taking the stairs, please." Tsubaki sighed. Having lost balance while walking backwards up the building's staircase, Black*Star had flailed his arms around and let go of his friend.

"Black*Star, pick him up!" Kid shouted, struggling to pick Soul's front half up on his own. Crona had been struggling the whole time; the stick-thin child had absolutely no muscle to speak of.

"C-can we please j-just get him b-back to the a-apartment?" The pink-haired meister was shaking with the effort required to hold up Soul's feet.

"We're taking the elevator," Maka declared, kicking Black*Star to the side and holding up Soul's arm. "Crona, you're going to have to walk backwards down the stairs."

The boy stiffened. Even though there were only five steps separating him and level ground, Crona was terrified. Aside from his initial fear of staircases, Crona also possessed a phobia of walking backwards. Combine these factors and throw in the need to carry an injured friend, and the evening had suddenly become one of the pink-haired meister's worst nightmares.

After ten minutes of gingerly stepping down the stairs, Crona finally allowed himself to relax slightly when both of his shoes were on the ground. Having been totally focused on his terrifying goal, he hadn't noticed the exchange of verbal blows between Black*Star and Maka for having kicked him. He also failed to hear Kid's horrified rant about the asymmetrical pattern of blood in Soul's hair that the boy Grim Reaper had just then taken the time to notice.

"Do we get on the elevator now?" Crona smiled, feeling much more self-confident now.

"Yes," Kid sighed. "Please."

Because of the swift speed of the elevator and its proximity to their residence, Soul was quickly seated upon his couch again.

"That's twice in a day I've laid here helpless," He noted. "Uncool."

"Well, quit trying to get yourself killed," Maka told him, wrapping his new wounds.

"Wasn't like I was trying," Soul muttered. "The guy jumped me."

Maka paused. "You still haven't told me who he was," She said, causing Soul to roll his eyes.

"Because it's not important. He was _hired_, Maka. Medusa paid a guy to assassinate me," He told her. Maka's eyes grew wide as she stared at her partner, inwardly declaring revenge on Medusa. She didn't have much time to dwell on these thoughts, however.

"If that creepy witch wanted an assassin, she should've chosen the greatest star in the world!" Black*Star had one foot upon a kitchen chair, while the other was positioned on the table. With the addition of his fits on his hips, he almost looked majestic. However, the moment was fleeting. Running madly from Blair, Kid brushed against the chair the blue-haired narcissist was standing upon, setting him off-balanced and causing the boy to fall forward onto the table, flipping it over and sending his bag of chips straight at Tsubaki's head.

Soul was silent for a minute as he stared at the scene. Black*Star now had his face flattened against the sideways table, Kid was clinging to the carpet for dear life as Blair tried to drag him to who-knows-where, Crona had ducked under the coffee table in fear and shock, and Tsubaki was trying to dust the cheese from a family-size bag of Dorito's out of her hair.

Despite the pain, Soul found himself laughing. It felt good to laugh like this; he didn't need to think about his worries. He fought down his concern involving Medusa and her shaded plans, and instead chose to enjoy the moment. He knew this peace wouldn't last long.

* * *

"Is that a witch?"

"What's she doing here?"

"Why is she just waltzing up to the Academy?"

Medusa heard their whispers, but ignored them. Everyone who saw her stared at her, surprised and confused as to why a witch would march up to the Academy without fear. She had her reasons.

"Hello Medusa," Lord Death's voice said to her as soon as she came up the final step and onto the terrace. All the staff of the Academy was lined up there as well, glaring at the witch, along with a few cardboard boxes of things they had moved out and didn't want her to touch.

"Hello, Death," The witch smirked. She still refused to acknowledge the Grim Reaper as her superior, and therefore never called him 'Lord'. "Is everyone out?"

"Yes," replied the Reaper. "Now, where's Kid?" He demanded.

Medusa shrugged. "I sent him home. He looked like he wanted to get there in a hurry," She replied. She strode up to Death and held her hand out. "The key to the DWMA," She demanded.

"Sid." Said Death slowly, "Give her the key."

"Right, sir." The zombie stepped forward. He wanted very badly to protest against the Reaper's decision, but he knew that his master had something planned. For while he seemed to never take anything seriously, Lord Death was cunning. He would be able to turn this around in their favor very easily; that was what everyone was hoping.

Grinning from ear to ear, Medusa strode cockily forward and swung open the Academy doors. "Have a nice evening, everyone." She laughed before closing and locking the doors behind her.

* * *

**More still to come! :D Thanks for reading, reviewing, favorting, following, and whatever else you guys do. It's really encouraging. :) See ya next chapter!**


	14. Shakespeare, Apples, and Wolves

**So, 14's here already… Along that note, Happy New Year! :D My siblings and I have already tired out the "I haven't done this since last year" jokes… Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway, *I disclaim* I don't own the board game I reference, either. Or the book I reference. Or the movie I reference. I've discovered I include a lot of references LOL (I realized this had a lot of spelling and grammatical errors, so I went back and fixed them.)**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 14**

**Shakespeare, Apples, and Wolves**

* * *

There are some situations that leave people clueless as to their next course of action. The options following could also go in a variety of directions and have different acts as a result. For example, if a dinosaur suddenly stepped on your car, you could take a few different courses of action, a few of these being that you could either assess your car for damage, or call the authorities to ask why in the world there was a dinosaur around to smash your car in the first place.

At that moment, Death the Kid was facing a pause in his own movements as he tried to decide what to do next.

"Yes, he's breathing," The young Shinigami noted, standing up after checking Stein's pulse.

"What exactly happened?" Patty and Liz stood behind their meister, looking human once again. It was the older sister that had spoken. "I know you fired Patty into his gut, and he flew back…"

"Slamming into this wall and hitting his head. He probably has a concussion, but he's still conscious," Added Kid. Stein looked up at his attackers, but his eyes were unfocused and he was mumbling incoherently.

"What are we gonna do with him?" Patty questioned.

"How should I know?" Kid turned to face his partners, but coldness sparked in his eyes suddenly as he went over their options. "We can't exactly take him to the Academy, can we?" His anger was beginning to build once again.

"Uh, Kid?" Liz began, but her technician cut her off.

"Of course we can't!" The young Reaper exclaimed. "We can't take him back the Academy that Dad no longer OWNS!"

"Hey Kid!" Patty was beginning to giggle, causing Kid to glare at her.

"This is no laughing matter, Patty! Because not only can we not take Stein back to Academy to get whatever help possible, but have you seen the destruction this fight caused? There are dents in the walls and floors, broken pottery, and there are STILL gallons of Silly String all over the dang place!" Kid shouted, venting all of his frustration at one time. "How in the world are we going to handle any of this?!"

"KID!" yelled Liz.

"What?!" snapped her meister.

"Stein's running off!" Both sisters shouted in unison and pointed behind Kid, the elder with concern and the younger with amusement. Kid instantly whipped around, staring at the dent in the wall that Stein had been slumped against. True enough, the mad doctor was no longer anywhere to be seen, but Kid heard the front door slam as the professor made his exit.

"Shouldn't we follow him?" asked Liz, after her meister had been staring at the dent for a minute. The latter's mind was racing.

"_Follow the madman or fix the house? Shoot down the threat to the city, or restore the threat to my sanity?_"

Patty poked the young Reaper. "You okay, Kid?"

Kid remained silent for a minute, but then broke down. "NO, I'm not OKAY! I'm in the middle of an emotional crisis here! If I let Stein kill somebody because I didn't chase after him, my conscience will be wrecked, not to mention my reputation as Lord Death's heroic son!"

Liz raised an eyebrow. "And the problem is…"

"If I choose to follow Stein," Kid continued, now in a heap on the floor, "Then I'll be leaving the house looking like this! It's HORRIFYING!" The teen wailed.

"Oh, get a grip," Liz rolled her eyes, pulling on Kid's shirt collar until he stood up. "Think of it this way. If we don't stop Stein now, he'll kill somebody, right? But if we don't clean up the mess now, it'll just stay like this. Let's try and fix the problem that will have consequences that are more present issues," She tried to introduce logic into the conversation.

"B-but… Do you not care about my sanity?" Kid blubbered. "If I leave the house looking like this, I'll surely go mad…" He crossed his arm over his face in an overly dramatic pose.

"Are you sure it hasn't already happened?" Patty asked innocently before Kid seemingly confirmed her theory and suddenly burst into a symmetry-centered soliloquy induced by confusion.

"OH SYMMETRY, SYMMETRY!" He cried. "WHEREFORE ART THOU, SYMMETRY?!"

"Yep. He's cracked," Liz groaned, dragging their terribly confused meister out the door. The latter was still quoting Shakespeare.

"Deny thy Stein and refuse thy guns, and I shall no longer be a Shinigami!"

"No, Kid. We're going to find Stein and you're going to shoot him up!" Patty giggled.

"But soft! What light through yonder symmetry breaks?"

* * *

"Are you serious?" Maka sighed.

"I'm dead serious. Would I joke about something like this?" Black*Star replied.

"B-but… This is so sudden…" The blonde stammered. "I really don't think I can…"

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" He grinned.

"Well…" Maka sighed. "All right."

"YAHOO!" Black*Star grinned. "SLEEPOVER AT MAKA'S!" The young ninja shouted, running to get blankets from the hall closet and intruding on Crona. "Woah, hey Crona! Is there a reason you're not wearing a shirt? HOLY HECK YOU'RE A GUY?!"

"I'm changing into my pajamas!" Crona exclaimed, pulling his shirt back on embarrassingly. "Why are you in my closet?"

Black*Star looked flabbergasted for a moment. "_Death… Crona's a GUY. Seriously? The dude wears dresses and he's a GUY?_" Shaking off his confusion, he replied to the boy; "L-looking for the blankets and pillows," There was a slight stutter in his shocked voice as the blue-haired narcissist reached up onto the shelves above the coat racks. "M-maka agreed to let us spend the night because we're here and it's already nine at night."

"Oh…" Crona stared at the boy ninja.

Maka, on the couch next to Soul, sighed. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

"Probably," Soul remarked, now able to sit up. Sokka was perched on his shoulder, repeating random phrases he had heard in the past few hours.

"Blair, go sit in a corner and think about what you've done!" The parrot said.

Maka picked her head up; suddenly reminded that she had spoken those words. "Oh yeah. I said that a while ago, didn't I?" Maka leaned over from her position on the couch to look at Blair, who was currently sulking under it. "You can come out now, Blair, as long as you leave Kid alone," She told her cat.

"I don't wanna come out," Blair mewed, her curled tail twitching. "The Reaper boy doesn't like me." The violet cat had been sentenced to a time-out after Kid had come rushing to Maka, pleading for rescue from the clingy kitty.

"Be that way, then," Maka told her. "But you won't be getting any of the tuna casserole I make for supper."

Blair instantly zipped out from under the couch and changed her form as she jumped up and down in joy. "Maka's making tuna casserole!" She cheered, hugging Tsubaki in her glee.

"Wonderful." Tsubaki smiled, letting Blair enjoy herself.

"Yes. Wonderful." Kid peeked out cautiously from the hallway, having been hiding from Blair in Soul's room with the door locked. "Just keep the cat away from me and I'll be fine."

Soul chuckled. "This is bound to be interesting." He grinned, earning a playful shove from Maka.

"Shut up. You just got back here, remember? It's not your place right now to be a smart aleck," She reminded him. "And until you say you're sorry, it's still not your house."

Soul raised an eyebrow. "You want _me _to say _I'm _sorry?" His expression became one of irritation all of a sudden as he felt an argument rising up. "You were the one who forced me out of the house in the first place!"

Maka began to glare at him, but kept her voice calm. "I didn't force you out. You left on your own," She replied.

"Yeah, because how could I live here knowing that we weren't partners? You didn't even want to look at me!" The scythe shot back.

Tsubaki tensed as she watched their argument. She knew that they didn't need to be in this situation right after Soul returned. "Hey, Maka!" She spoke up, grabbing her friend's hand. "How about I help you make that casserole, huh?" She smiled awkwardly, pulling the blonde away from her former partner. The latter crossed his arms huffily, turning away from Maka in toddler-like frustration.

"Hey! Everybody!" Black*Star ran from the hallway, carrying heaps of blankets. "Did you know that Crona was a GUY?"

"Yes," Soul and Maka both answered in unison, much to their annoyance.

"Really?" Pondered Black*Star, throwing the blankets on the couch, ergo, on top of Soul. "I always that that she… Uh, he, was a girl."

Crona took that moment to walk out of the hallway, sporting very baggy black footie pajamas as he sat on the other couch. His choice of sleepwear was decorated with a design of white sheep all over it. "When's supper ready?" He asked quietly, searching for a different subject.

"A half hour," Tsubaki replied over her shoulder.

An hour and a much-enjoyed casserole later, everyone wanted to settle down and sleep on a full stomach, but a certain young ninja had other plans.

"How about we play Apples-To-Apples?" He proposed. This statement was met with mixed reactions, but ultimately resulted in the group sitting around the coffee table huddling in blankets on the chilly November night.

"I hate the weather in Nevada," Soul muttered, shivering in a thick fleece cover. "It's broiling hot during the day and you freeze your digits off at night. Never even snows."

"You need something to complain about, don't you?" Maka glared at him. Their emotions were still on edge due to the fight before supper.

"All right, you all remember how to play this, right?" Tsubaki searched for a more friendly conversation. "The judge pulls a green card from the deck with an adjective on it, you submit a word or phrase from your deck that you think fits it, and if the judge likes your card best, you win the green card. First to four green cards wins."

"Yes," Maka and Soul replied jadedly. "We've played this a hundred times."

"Four hundred and five!" Blair purred. "I counted."

"I didn't know you could count that high," Crona stated. "I don't know if I can count that high… Snakes on the beach…"

"He's doing it again…" Groaned Black*Star.

"The word is 'Perfect'," Kid stated, the judge for the current round. "Whoever picks 'Symmetry' has an instant win and gets all four green cards."

"Kid, that's not how the game works," Tsubaki sighed. "Besides, I don't think there is a red card with the word 'Symmetry'."

"No card with 'Symmetry'?!" Kid exclaimed. "This is an outrage! A rip-off!" He stood up immediately. "I'm going to call the Mattel company and demand a 'Symmetry' card!" The Reaper clone stormed into the kitchen to search for the cordless phone.

"There goes the game," Soul mumbled.

"I know!" Black*Star shouted, now obviously the star of sleepover-planning. "How about we watch a movie?"

"Not a scary one…" Crona began to shake.

"Please no." Maka agreed with the child. It wasn't so much that she was scared of horror movies, but that her very life seemed to be one. With her position as a Shibusen student and therefore one who regularly fought foes much more frightening and deadly then Godzilla, she couldn't take such movies seriously, but would also find her comparing the work of fiction to her life, and even analyzing the monster on the screen.

"_Can I fight it? Would it be easy to kill? What rank meister would go after it? What techniques should I use?_"

After all that contemplating, she'd go to bed and dream about it. However, these dreams quickly sunk into nightmares when they always lost the battle, and she and Soul became two of the victims of the beast in the movie.

"Maka."

The girl was suddenly broken out of her deep train of thought as Soul prodded her with his elbow. "Black*Star's asked you five times where the movies are."

Maka shot him a glare. "Well why didn't you answer him?" She growled, causing Soul to shrug hotly.

"Apparently it's 'not my house'," He replied, his voice dripping with starkness.

After soundly slamming the spine of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" into Soul's skull, Maka directed Black*Star to the movie cabinet next to the TV. She then proceeded to continue to read the book that had just recently dented the head of a certain scythe, being very nearly done. For while horror movies irked her, the witches and wizards within the pages of Harry Potter books where such a sharp contrast to the foes they encountered on a regular basis, and therefore the books were not believable in the least and didn't bother her.

"How about this movie, Maka?" Black*Star held up a white case depicting a mother holding two children. "It's called 'Wolf Children'. Wolves are cool."

"Sure." Maka shrugged. "I haven't gotten the chance to watch it yet, but I hear it's good."

"The cover says it won a lot of awards." Tsubaki noted.

"They hung up on me!" Kid declared, slamming the phone back into its base and walking back to the group. "I was on hold for fifteen minutes with that stupid multimillion-dollar company, and then they laughed at me when I tried to impose my authority as the son of the Grim Reaper!"

"Not everyone believes in your old man, Kid." Soul replied frankly. "Hate to break it to you."

"Well, he's real," Kid muttered as he sat down.

"Sh! Movie's starting!" Black*Star shushed them as he turned off the lights.

Two hours later, the room was filled with mixed emotions.

"That was a really boring movie," Black*Star huffed. "Thought something about wolves would have more action."

While Tsubaki looked close to tears, Crona was bawling. "B-but he... And then she had to… And then they… And then he… MAKA!" He cried loudly, hugging the blonde.

"It's okay, Crona," Maka stroked her friend's head comfortingly. "It's just a movie." And while she held her feelings in impeccably, the blonde admitted to herself that she was moved as well.

Soul shrugged. "It was all right," He remarked. Truthfully, however, his inner and hidden emotions were begging him to hug the next wolf – or dog - he saw, living or otherwise.

Even though Kid didn't say anything, his bottom lip was quivering, and apparently he was moved enough to allow Blair to hug him, which the sobbing cat was doing, and crying gallons into his shoulder.

Despite the emotional trauma the band had just been put through, everyone was soon asleep. Maka wanted to give her quests first choice, so Tsubaki was situated on Maka's bed, with Blair curled up next to her. The occupants of Soul's former room were Black*Star and Kid, while the former was snoring upon the floor and Kid lied straight beneath a fleece blanket upon Soul's former mattress. Crona simply remained in his closet, leaving Soul and Maka upon the couches in the living room.

"Sorry."

Maka had nearly been asleep when the strange but soft-spoken word split the silence of the darkened room.

"What?" She asked quietly. "Was that you, Soul?"

"Yeah," The scythe murmured, laying across the couch opposite the television. From where he was, he could see the soft glow of Maka's emerald eyes when she turned on her couch to face him. "And I said I was sorry. Sorry for leaving like that," He said, but then his voice gained that harsh tone of his again. "There. I said it. Don't expect me to say it again." He then turned over, facing the back of the couch.

"I forgive you," Came the hushed reply after a minute.

There were a few more moments of silence, and Maka began to drift to sleep again before she heard him speak once more.

"What happened in the square?" He spoke. "I was dead. I know I was dead. But then I wasn't."

Maka closed her eyes and took a deep breath before replying. "Kid said that my soul acted like a magnet to yours, keeping it in your body and reviving you," She murmured. "I got there just in time."

"How'd you know I was hurt?" Soul continued to press for answers as he glanced back at the girl once again.

Maka sighed. "More about my soul. It hurt when yours did," She gazed directly into his eyes. "That's how strong our connection is."

Soul was silent for another moment. "I owe you my life." He whispered so quietly that Maka didn't understand him.

"What was that?" She asked, confused.

"Nothing," Soul replied, but Maka could easily tell he was lying. However, she wasn't going to press for information.

"He took my iPod."

After dwelling for a moment on what the scythe could have meant other than 'nothing', Soul's most recent comment caught her off-guard.

"What?"

"The guy that killed me," Soul mumbled. "He rummaged through my bag, took a few expensive shirts, and pocketed my iPod," He pulled the blanket over his head. "Tomorrow we're getting it back," He yawned, causing Maka to smile.

"What, you don't have back-up music saves or anything?" She chuckled.

"I didn't think I'd need to," Soul snapped back, but he now sounded more playful than snarky.

"Well, we'll get it back tomorrow," It was Maka's turn to yawn as she burrowed into her soft blanket. "Goodnight, Soul."

If she expected a reply, Maka made no indication of it. She never got one either, for the scythe was already asleep, and the girl was soon after.

* * *

It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Not only did the Academy provide an excellent new base of operations for the Snake Witch, but it also split up the DWMA's forces and scattered them, leaving them without a training ground or a place of meeting. Oh, they'd assemble soon enough. Medusa knew that; she wasn't stupid. They'd try and bring her down, but she was too strong for that. She'd knock them all to the ground while keeping herself safe behind the walls of Shibusen. She'd amass her own army before then, sending them instead to do the dirty work, while she took down those on her revenge list. It would be glorious.

Medusa mulled over these thoughts as her bare feet treaded along the empty hallways of the Academy. This was her home now, and she was going to live like a queen here.

But of course, a queen is nothing without her King.

"Medusa?" Stein's voice, filled with desperation, echoed through the near-empty building. "Are you here? You weren't at the lab, and I followed your wavelength…"

Medusa strode casually to the front doors. Stein was pounding against them with his fists before she opened them, and the professor was dripping wet with the rain that had decided to pour down that Saturday night.

"Are you all right, Stein?" She asked gently as the man rushed in from the cold and wet and she closed the door behind him.

"I…" Stein shook his head as if he was trying to clear it. "Are you sure… That this is a dream?" He murmured. "I thought in dreams, you woke up if you got hurt, and you couldn't feel pain…"

Medusa couldn't prevent her body from stiffening as she noticed that the pools of water collecting at Stein's feet were also getting mixed with a deep red liquid that was dripping from his face and abdomen.

"But… That fight hurt…" He groaned.

"It's all right, Stein." Medusa put a finger to his lips, inserting another snake within him to help keep him in ignorance. "Yes, I'm sure this is a dream. It's just so much better than reality that you're feeling more in-touch with it. That's why you're getting hurt here," She told him. The professor looked confused for another moment, but then his expression became saddened.

"So… You're not the real Medusa?" He murmured, facing the ground.

Medusa paused. While she had expected him to put the pieces together sooner, now that the time had come, she didn't want him to feel like that.

"No, I'm real," The Snake Witch assured Stein, putting a hand to the side of his face. "I entered your head. I'm not a dream," She drew closer to the man before her. "Could a dream do this?"

With perfect timing, thunder boomed outside and lighting flashed as Medusa's lips met Stein's.

It was quick, and both were hesitant to admit, however true the fact might have been, that it was too quick for them. Medusa, her cool expression unchanging but her emotions doing backflips within her, quickly strode off to some random room to assess her thoughts and fully take into account what in the world she just did, leaving Stein standing in the large hall with his insane mind wondering what happened as well, and trying to decide if he should have kissed her first.

* * *

**I'm really not sure what my reaction is to this or what a reader's reaction would be, so hit up those comments and tell me what you think. :) I'm sadly not going to be able to update this over the weekend, (****To quote David Tennant: "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry…") **but I'll be back as soon as I can next week with new chapters!


	15. Daddy Needs a New Phone

**TOTALGAMER'S SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE. (TotalGamer now speaks in third person) *TolalGamer disclaims* Totalgamer doesn't own Plexiglas.**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 15**

**Daddy Needs a New Phone**

* * *

Many people look for different things in cell phones. Some want a vibrant-colored device, while a plain black will do for others. A large percent off cellular-phone shoppers prefer a flashy device with many applications, such as games, a camera, internet access, touch screen, and the like. The minority of people simply want a phone that sends calls.

Spirit Albarn, a well-known Death Scythe, wasn't looking for much in a cell phone, and was perfectly content with his current one. His five-year-old model simply sent and received texts and calls, and he didn't care. It was enough to keep in touch with whatever girlfriend he was unofficially with, and call his daughter nearly every morning. However, Maka didn't care for her father's calls and never answered the phone, so unless Soul bothered to answer the redhead's call before they left for school, Spirit would be sent into an overly-dramatic panic until they arrived safely at the Academy.

Despite being content with his phone, Spirit had recently discovered that it was starting to wind down. Many calls sent to him never got through, and texts had been coming hours late, if not days. And it was for that reason that he never got Maka's text until nine thirty in the evening.

His phone first alerted him of the message as he walked down the Academy steps after Medusa's takeover, producing a slight _bing _sound from his pocket. Spirit reached down for the device, bringing the self-lit screen to his face and reading the text sent from Blair's phone.

_We r stuck n mall basement. Blair got us arrested_. –_Maka_

The Death Scythe froze with shock as his eyes grew wide.

"M-maka… My sweet Maka…" He was shaking as he stared at the screen. "G-got herself ARRESTED?!" He began to panic as he often did, totally breaking down. "DADDY'S GIRL HAS BECOME A JUVENILE DELINQUENT!" He screamed, rushing to the mall.

The former workers of the DWMA had been walking in a group, Spirit included, so they had witnessed the Death Scythe's wild fit-induced gesticulations with mixed expressions on their faces.

"What's gotten into him?" Sid asked as the redhead took off. "Did he say Maka got arrested?"

"It's probably not as serious as that, I'm sure," Death told him, glancing behind himself to address the undead man.

"So why is he making a mad dash through town?" Sid sighed.

"He's already at the hardware store!" A random employee noted, holding an equally random pair of binoculars up to his eyes. "That's five blocks away!"

"Where'd you even get those binoculars?" Sid questioned, shaking his head in confusion.

"He's running like that because he believes his daughter might be in danger," Death continued, casting a glance up at the Academy. "And a father will put anything on the line for his children."

As the mall came into view, Spirit quickened his pace.

"_My Maka's somewhere behind those doors, waiting to be rescued by her beloved Papa!_" He told himself, barreling through the parking lot with a mixed expression somewhere between determination and utter despair. "DADDY'S COMING, MAKA!"

You're probably aware of the fact that malls have different closing hours. On a weekend, Death City's mall "Tombstone Hills" closes at nine in the evening, soundly locking its automatic sliding Plexiglas doors and locking them up tight, not permitting anyone else to enter the store until they're unlocked again at nine the next morning. Whether he was formerly aware of this fact or not, Spirit had thrown all common sense to the wind and charged straight at the entrance.

Death Scythe, meet locked Plexiglas door.

Slamming face-first into the plastic surface, Spirit was temporarily stunned. After this, he proceeded to pound upon the door frantically for the good part of ten minutes, before logic once again began to kick in. But the force of logic came very slow and in small quantities to the Death Scythe, for his second attempt at breaking down the door resulted in his growing blades out of his arms and attempting to ram down the doors with that.

"I'M COMING FOR YOU, MAKA!" Was his battle cry. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Crona had been sleeping fitfully all night. Whenever he drifted off, he saw his mother's face. That woman would be sneering down at him, either laughing wickedly or telling her child how worthless he was.

"_You were totally under my control._"

"_You couldn't save your friends, and you never will._"

"_You can't even control your own sword!_"

Crona writhed in his sleep under the tumult of Medusa's degrading words. Soon her words left him, leaving him with his beach once again. But the land was still a desert, with scattered snakes hissing at him and preventing the ocean from returning.

"I want my ocean back…" The pink-haired boy whimpered in his sleep, shaking uncontrollably. Abruptly he sat up, jerking away from his nightmares with wide eyes. He panted for a few moments, trying to regain a grip on reality and separate it from the hell inside his head. "R-ragnarok…" He whispered, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his skinny arms around his legs. "I need to talk to you."

"What do you want?" His weapon snapped curtly and loudly, emerging from the boy's back. "It's been a long day and I'm trying to get some rest!"

"Quiet, Ragnarok," Crona murmured. "Everyone's asleep."

"Exactly," The sword muttered, "Which is why _we _should be asleep."

"But I need to talk to you about earlier," Crona objected before Ragnarok left, "About when you refused to let me fight with you."

The Demon Sword rolled its X-shaped eyes. "Oh, so that's what this is about," He grumbled.

"I need to use you again," Crona continued as he stood, "Very soon. I'm gonna go find Medusa and kill her."

"You've said that before," Ragnarok replied. "Remember what happened, Mister I-survived-being-impaled?"

Crona hung his head. "Yes. But it'll be different this time. I know it."

"Well at least you have confidence. That's new." The child's weapon said. "But there's still no chance I'm fighting for you."

The pink-haired boy was silent for a minute. "I'll get Maka to make you mint chocolate chip cookies-"

"Point me in the direction of the fight! I'm gonna gut 'er like a fish!" Ragrarok nearly cut off his meister before the latter finished his sentence as the former cheered.

"Sh. Quieter," Crona whispered, slipping on the black outfit Soul and Black*Star referred to as a 'dress'. "We don't want to wake the others."

"Why not?"

Crona was suddenly bathed in the glow of the hallway light as his door was opened.

"What don't you want us to know, Crona?" Maka stepped forward through the door.

The Demon Swordsman stared into the face his friend, shadowed by the light against her back.

"You're on your own," Ragnarok mumbled in Crona's ear as he melted into his meister's back once again. "But don't forget to tell her to make me cookies."

"Everyone else is still asleep, but I heard Ragnarok yelling. What's wrong?" She knelt next to the boy, who faced the ground for a while before he looked up at the blonde.

"I need to kill Medusa." Crona's eyes sparked with a rare determination. "I need to get rid of her. She's in my head, and she's saying things that hurt me," His voice grew quieter as he shrank back once again. "And I need to get rid of her or her words'll stay in my head, and if she stays alive I know she's going to hurt people."

"So you're going to go after her," Maka sighed. "Crona, that's dangerous. Do you remember what happened last time-?"

"Yes! I remember!" Crona found himself snapping. "I don't need to be reminded again! I nearly got killed, I know!" He shook, his arms around himself as he grew silent once again. "But I can't let her live. She's hurt too many people too many times to keep living." He whispered.

Maka reached forward, putting her hand on Crona's shoulder. "Okay, Crona," She murmured. "I know your heart's set on this, and I can't stop you. But I'm not going to let you go until you agree to let Soul and I come, and anyone else who wants to help."

"No!" Crona quickly objected. "She'll hurt you! She'll hurt them!"

"What's going on?" The Kid clone rubbed his eyes as he stepped into the closet, yawning. "I was just awoken from a beautifully symmetrical dream when Crona started yelling."

"Now everyone's getting up," Crona sighed. "Please, I just want to go alone. No one else needs to get hurt by Medusa."

"He's going to fight Medusa?" Black*Star was apparently up, shoving his way into the closet. "There is no way I'm missing out on a fight!"

"Please just go away." Crona murmured.

"Crona," Maka said sternly. "As your friend, I can't allow you to do this alone. I know you want to," She added as the boy began to open his mouth to speak, "But friends look out for each other, and we're going to help you win this fight." She smiled.

Crona was silent for a moment. He was strongly opposed to everyone coming; he just knew they'd get hurt. His life wasn't worth dirt, and neither Ragnarok or Medusa's voice would never let him forget that, so it didn't matter if he died. But now some people thought his life had worth enough to put their own lives on the line to fight alongside him. This was a fairly new concept to the damaged child, and he was just beginning to grasp it. _Loyalty._ It was a strange word, but Maka would never let him forget the meaning of it. And from observing Soul and the white-haired teen's actions and emotions toward his meister, he had determined that loyalty to that extent indicated a very special friendship. Crona then began to smile softly. "No matter what I say; you're going to come with me, aren't you?" He said. "I really like… Having such great friends," He looked up at Maka, his eyes bright, before he stood. "I'll go wait in the kitchen. I want to leave really soon, so whenever everyone's ready, we'll meet there. Oh, and I promised Raganarok that you'd make him mint chocolate chip cookies if he helped me fight," He walked out past Kid and Maka, Black*Star following.

Maka chuckled a little upon standing. "I'll make the cookies tomorrow," She smiled.

"Make up your mind, Maka."

The blonde turned to face Kid confusedly. "About what?"

"About Crona and Soul," He said, facing the girl. "You dote on both of them, but it never seems to go any further than friendship with Soul. When you're talking to Crona, however, your voice becomes more caring," He continued.

"It's what Crona needs," Maka objected. "He needs a kind voice. If I talked like that to Soul, he'd walk all over me and make fun of me for speaking like that."

Kid shrugged. "You don't know that."

"Of course I do," Maka snapped. "We're partners."

"But do you really know everything about him?"

"No. He's not open at all, like Crona. I can talk to him about my feelings," The blonde sighed. "I've talked like that with Soul before, but... It's rare," She murmured. "But I am, or I was, in a deeper relationship with Soul. He probably doesn't want to be with me anymore, after how I broke up our partnership."

Kid chuckled slightly. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was a love triangle."

And that was how the last clone was destroyed.

Forgetting that the teen in front of her wasn't the real Kid, Maka proceeded to summon a dictionary out of nowhere and bash the clone in the head with it, resulting in its spontaneous combustion.

"What was that?" Tsubaki emerged from Maka's room, awoken from the sound of the explosion. "Was that the last clone?"

"Yeah," Maka mumbled, waving away the smoke.

"What happened to him?" The Dark Arm asked, walking to her friend. "Did he get attacked?"

"No," Maka sighed. "Well, not really. I might have… Chopped him."

Tsubaki went quiet. "Oh," She murmured.

"Do you think I'm in a love triangle?"

Tsubaki was surprised at Maka's last question. "What do you mean?"

Maka sighed. "I chopped the clone because he suggested that I was in a love triangle between Crona and Soul."

"Oh," Tsubaki said once again. "I'm... Not sure. Maybe?"

"That's helpful," Maka grumbled.

"Well, you really seemed to be in a relationship with Soul," Tsubaki added. "But you do seem to care for Crona more..."

"That's what the Kid said before he blew up," The blonde replied, shaking her head. "Soul just got back from a near-death... No, not even that. An _actual _death experience and I want to work more on repairing our partnership before I try to fix a deeper relationship that might not have existed in the first place," She ran her hands through her ragged bedhead pigtails as she strode back into the living room."

"Soul. Soul. Soul. Soul. Soul."

Black*Star was jumping up and down on the couch Soul was splayed across, but the scythe was still snoring loudly. Maka had previously proclaimed that her former partner could "sleep through a hurricane".

"Black*Star, let Soul sleep," Tsubaki sighed.

"Nope," The blue-haired boy replied as he continued to spring up and down. "Soul. Soul. Soul. Soul. Soul."

Maka strode over to the scythe. True, Soul could sleep through a hurricane, but a five-pound novel to the head was a different story.

Soul instantly jerked awake, rubbing the new dent in his skull. "What the heck, Maka?!" He growled.

"Get some day clothes on." The meister told him. "We're going to go kill a witch."

* * *

"We've been walking for hours."

"My feet hurt."

"I'm hungry."

"I'm tired."

"I want a pony."

"I want my bed..."

Kid groaned, rubbing his temples. His partners had done nothing but complain for the past five minutes. "Patty, Liz, you were the ones who wanted to get out of the house." He reminded them.

"But I didn't realize how late it was!" Liz exclaimed. "It's LATE! There's a high possibility that Stein just went home to get some sleep."

"No," Kid told them. "I know how a mind like his thinks; I've studied madness enough. He'll go to Medusa, his authority at the moment. So we have to go where Medusa is. Which is, of course, the DWMA," He said. "Besides, I don't want to be home to meet my coward for a Dad."

"I thought you wanted to be home when he was to tell 'im off." Patty questioned, causing her meister to sigh.

True, Kid wanted to yell at his father for the good part of eight minutes about his stupid decision of a lifetime, but he knew he shouldn't. His upbringing forbade him from being so disrespectful to his parent, and he felt that he would much rather return with the new of the reclaimed Academy and a slain witch than to simply scold Lord Death. This would help him blow off steam. Besides, he had to remember who the real enemy was at the moment.

"We're supposed to be going after Medusa," Kid proclaimed. "Creating rifts between her enemies is just what she's trying to do. Now is not the time to be harsh towards Dad when I can take my anger out on a snake-obsessed witch."

* * *

Medusa had found a pleasant spot to rest in the teacher's lounge. She held her hands over her face, something that she rarely did, in an attempt to calm down her rushing head.

"What am I doing?" She groaned out loud. "I told myself never again. It never ends well. I can't..." She sighed, pulling her hands away from her face. She let one arm lie next to her upon the couch she lid across, while the other brushed the floor. "I can't love him."

She pulled herself into a sitting position. "I am pathetic. A pathetic excuse for a witch," She growled at herself. "This didn't work last time. Why am I trying again?" She hissed, harsh memories resurfacing in the front of her mind.

_Her face was completely emotionless as she held the broad arrow-shaped sword in her hand. The man before her panted upon the ground, blood pouring from various deadly wounds._

_"Why did you do this?" He moaned in pain, staring at the woman he thought he knew. "I love you. Why are you killing me?"_

_"That's why," Medusa knelt next to him. "Because I love you. That's why you have to go. I can't stay like this," She lifted her sword above the man's heart. "Goodbye, love."_

_The sword came down and resulted in a burst of blood, screams, and both emotional and __physical pain._

_Medusa stood there for a minute, not moving, as she panted heavily and held her sword in the chest of her former lover. The lavender eyes that drew her to him were clouded with death, and his strangely-colored pink-like hair was drenched in his own blood._

_The Snake Witch slowly began to shake as she pulled the sword away. The man's body instantly split into fading ribbons, leaving behind a glowing blue flame-like orb. For the first time in her life, Medusa hesitated to eat the pure soul. But hesitation was quickly overcome by rage-filled sorrow, as she grabbed the soul and shoved it into her mouth._

_"Stupid..." She spoke with her mouth full. "It was his stupid fault for making me love him. Just... So stupid," Despite her grumblings, Medusa's expression slowly turned from an enraged one to a sorrowful one. "Really stupid..." She tried to motivate her anger, but she was failing. "I... Never told him about..." She placed a hand on her abdomen, and for the first time she could remember, the mighty Medusa Gorgon broke down in sorrowful sobs._

Medusa shook her head quickly in an attempt to dispel the memory. "That's why I tried to kill Stein." She reminded herself. "I can't... I just can't love. It's weakness," She snapped sternly, laying back down on the couch. "I don't... Want to kill Stein."

* * *

**May I express my sincerest apologies once again at the delayed arrival of this chapter. Blame drawing. (Check out my deviantArt under the same name about Monday to see the end results) Drawing and preparing for Ichibancon. First con; this should be interesting. :) Because of that, the next chapter will probably be pretty late, too... Sorry. :/ Anywayz, see ya next (delayed) chapter!**


	16. A Walk in the Park

**Okay, so remember in chapter 2 where I said I owned no Soul Eater merchandise? Well let's just say I went to a convention and had way too much money. X3 My purchases included a button, a necklace, a t-shirt, a plushie, and a BOX. I have absolutely no idea why I got a Soul Eater-themed box. It looked cool, I suppose. LOL**

**I'm really sorry this chapter is so delayed. On top of the convention, I've had serious writer's block, mainly because it looks like this fic is coming to a close and I'm really hesitant to end it. It's been so much fun… Don't worry! There's still more to come! It's not over yet! :D *I disclaim***

**I'd like to send a shout-out to The Symmetricalist, who has encouraged me through my block! :3 Go read her fics, they're AWESUM**

**Define "Normal", Chapter 16**

**A Walk in the Park**

* * *

Some people fall under the category of "morning people". The criteria for such a qualification includes waking up happily during early hours, eager to start the day and greet the sunrise with a cheerful heart. However, it seems that the majority of people do not qualify as "morning people", especially when morning means twelve p.m., and the person aroused has just begun to recover from their own death.

"I am NOT a morning person," Soul yawned blearily, revealing his rows of sharpened teeth. "Remind me why we're up before it's even one a.m.?"

"I've explained it to you at least five times," Maka groaned. "We're going after Medusa."

"Again?" Soul rolled his eyes. "In case you don't remember, last few times we did that, it didn't end well."

Maka resisted the urge to slam the scythe with Harry Potter again. "This time it'll be different," She protested. "We're going to have an actual battle plan, and Ragnarok's agreed to fight."

"Whoop-de-do." Soul's cheer was dripping with sarcasm. "Now we have a little black pervert who cusses like a sailor on our side. That'll be _sure_ to turn the battle in our favor."

Following that comment, the ash blonde obeyed her instinct and allowed "The Deathly Hallows" to collide with the teen's skull.

"Was that really necessary?" Soul groaned, rubbing his head. He sighed. "Look, Maka. According to you, I just came back _from the dead_. I'm really tired, and I'll admit that I feel like a walking pile of mush. Cut me some slack," He asked of her.

"Hey!" Black*Star exclaimed, leaning against the door. "Are we leavin' or not?"

"We're coming," Maka said quietly, offering Soul her hand. "We need to go. Are you coming?"

The silver-haired teen's crimson eyes looked at the girl's delicate hand. It was so tiny, but firm and strong. He felt powerful when he had been hurled at enemies in those hands. But upon reminding himself that those days were over, Soul sighed.

"What'll I do? I'm no child of a Death Scythe, Maka; I can't grow blades from my limbs and fight alone. I'm useless." He muttered.

"No , you're not. And I'm not going to let you stay here alone to wallow in your self-pity," Maka told Soul, sitting next to him on the couch. "I'll fight with you again, okay? And I might agree to be partners again if you prove to me that you won't start throwing yourself in front of..." She cut off. She hadn't meant to say that last part. The blonde hoped Soul hadn't heard her and tried to get up, but the scythe grabbed her arm.

"What were you saying?" He asked, curious.

"Nothing," Maka replied, trying to pull her arm away, but Soul held tight.

"No, you were saying something about me throwing myself in front of you," He said. As realization began to wash over him, Soul began to smile. "Is that why we split up? Because you were tired of me getting hurt?"

Maka jerked her arm away forcefully. "Shut up," She growled. "Of course not. It's because I felt strong enough to fight without a stubborn scythe," She crossed her arms indignantly, but couldn't hide the color creeping across her cheeks that the scythe then pointed out.

"You're blushing," He chuckled, but then let the smirk fall from his face. "I haven't forgotten, Maka."

The blonde paused. "Forgotten what?" She murmured, quieter.

"That day a few months ago," Soul continued. "When I beat up Crona."

Maka flinched. "Yeah."

Soul was silent for another minute. Then he continued, much quieter; "The day I told you I loved you."

It was the blonde's turn to be silent, and Soul took this opportunity to continue. "And you told me you loved me," He added, standing up and trying to catch Maka's eye. "Is that why you're trying to protect me?"

Maka closed her eyes as her head faced the ground. "I... I don't know, Soul," She murmured. "I might have just been trying to make you feel better then..."

Soul stiffened. "What?" He stared at her.

"It had been a long day, Soul," Maka told him. "I was tired. We both were. We didn't know what we were saying..."

"So that's it?" Soul's expression hardened. "You're denying it now? Well what if I still feel that way?!" His voice rose. The blonde picked her head up to glare at the scythe, then grabbed his shirt collar.

"We're going to go fight Medusa!" She growled, dragging the protesting teen. "Everyone else is waiting!"

"You're not even going to TALK about what I just said?" Soul snapped. He was seething with rage as he pulled away from Maka. "Oh, I'm coming!" He assured her coldly. "Because at least ONE of us still cares about their former partner and refuses to let them get hurt!"

Maka ignored his comment as she stormed out the door.

"You do realize we just saw the whole thing, right?" Black*Stair pointed out. Soul blew a strand of his silver hair out of his face indignantly.

"Quit eavesdropping." He curtly told his friend as they all followed Maka. "It's not cool at all."

* * *

The group walked for a while with little words exchanged. Even Black*Star was silent. The air of apprehension hung over the small band of weapons and meisters until they felt as if the heavy emotion was near tangible and would break at any given moment, setting off some catastrophe.

"So..." Tsubaki finally shattered the silence, "Do we have a strategy?"

"Yes," Maka spoke up before Soul could throw in a smart remark. "Black*Star and Tsubaki will need to cover our backs. We don't know if Medusa has any little minions this time, but she does have a lot of snakes. You'll need to ward them off, while Soul, Crona and I..."

"That's not going to work."

All heads turned to the source of the voice behind them. Kid stood there, his two weapons dragging their feet behind him.

"What did you say about my plan?" Maka growled, still on edge.

"I said it's not going to work," Kid repeated himself. "I overheard your conversation. We're after Medusa as well, and I happen to know that... Wait." The young Reaper suddenly stiffened. "Where's the final clone?!"

Maka's expression turned sheepish. "Well, he might have gotten chopped..."

"WHAT?!" Kid shouted. "The last of my copies? The perfect duplicates of me? You CHOPPED IT?!" The teen broke down, curling up on the ground. "My brethren..."

"Okay, that's just weird," Soul noted nonchalantly.

"It's okay, Kid!" Patty suddenly chirped up. "I can clone you again!"

"NO!" Liz exclaimed. "Never again!"

"About our battle plan...?" Maka rolled her eyes as she waited for Kid to continue. The latter sniffled once more, then stood slowly._  
_

"Yes. Q-quite," The teen's voice shook as he tried to recover from the shock of losing his last twin. "Firstly, do you even know where Medusa is?"

The blonde looked sheepish. "Well, no... I was going to try and detect her wavelength..."

"She's taken over the Academy." Kid quickly explained, and before anyone else could react to this, he continued; "The reason your plan won't work is because Medusa has no ordinary minion. She has Stein."

Maka's eyes widened, as well as Soul's, Crona's, and Tsubaki's, but Black*Star merely shrugged.

"Whatever. I'd love to show up the professor!" He smirked.

"Black*Star, last time you tried to fight him, you nearly died!" Tsubaki exclaimed.

"Yeah, but that was AGES ago. I've become a much bigger star since then!" The young ninja whooped, to which his partner simply sighed.

"B-but why is Professor Stein following Medusa?" Maka questioned.

"I believe Medusa inserted snakes within him once again," Kid explained. "The weird thing is that she's fawning over him..."

Most of the others cringed, while Black*Star shrugged once again.

"I ship it." He stated.

"What?" Tsubaki stared at her meister. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing." Black*Star takes a moment to wink at the reader, causing confusion among the other cast members.

"Who's he winking at?" Patty whispered.

"I have no idea." Liz replied.

Maka continued to question Kid. "Well now that she's got Stein, how do you plan on getting in there and killing Medusa while hopefully leaving the professor intact?"

"Simple," Kid began. "Patty, Liz and I will stay outside to handle Stein. Black*Star needs to be at a sort of midpoint, ready to assist whoever needs it if they shout for his help. The rest of you will need to go after Medusa," He explained, then paused. "Are you going to fight using Soul, Maka?"

"Yes," Maka said through gritted teeth. "But just to prove we're both better alone."

Her last comment earned a cold crimson glare directed at her.

"Don't go into a major fight talking like that," Cautioned Kid swiftly. "You're so upset with each other, I can feel your souls grinding against one another without even trying. If you're going into a battle with a seemingly invincible witch, you need to be in tune and ready to unleash your best upon her. _As a pair,_" He added with emphasis.

The former partners exchanged glares once again before Soul turned away. "What do we have to do?" He muttered.

"We should practice, firstly," Kid said. "Patty, Liz."

Of the aforementioned sisters, the elder looked like she was falling asleep on a park bench, while the younger was currently playing tag with Black*Star and Crona. The latter seemed genuinely scared and to be running for his life.

Kid facepalmed - with both hands, of course - before he called louder. "Patty! Liz! I need your weapon forms to help train Soul and Maka!" He told them, and then turned back to the former partners. "Soul should change his form as well."

Soul obliged without so much as a nod, his form changing into that of a scythe as Maka gripped him.

"His shaft feels hot." Maka noted, wincing slightly at the pain.

"That's because your wavelengths are conflicting." Kid explained as Patty ran over.

"Tag! You're it!" She giggled before her pistol jumped into Kid's right hand. Liz trudged over drowsily, changing her form without a word and landing soundly in her meister's other hand.

"Let's get this over with. I want my bed..." Yawned the brunette.

"All right, you two," Kid spoke to Soul and Maka, ignoring the antics of his partners for the time being. "You need to trust one another. If you go into battle with negative emotions, those emotions will cloud your judgement."

Maka looked down at Soul, whose appearance was now reflected upon his black-and-red blade.

"Come at me," Kid said, "My hope is that if you fight together for a little while, you'll come to comprehend each other better. Once you can resonate successfully, we'll be able to go."

Black*Star hung upside down by his knees from a tree limb, observing the scrimmage. Tsubaki stood beneath him, always ready to catch her meister on the slight chance that he would fall.

Maka shot forward with a sudden burst of speed, charging Kid while swinging Soul. Her body and soul were both sliding into their natural fighting routine, and her weapon's shaft cooled down. Soul could feel it as well; the familiar battle state they both entered upon combat was once again becoming comfortable.

Kid deftly sidestepped them, firing a shot from Liz that was purposefully poorly aimed and easily dodged by the opposing party. Maka's grip grew tighter on Soul as the rush of the fight filled her veins. She was well aware of the fact that this was only a "play fight"; however she couldn't prevent her battle-hungry energy welling up.

"Maka!" Soul suddenly shouted. "That hurts!"

The blonde's eyes darted downward as she stopped in her tracks. One of her blades had emerged from her arm against her will, sliding against Soul's hilt and nearly cutting into it.

"Sorry!" She exclaimed quickly, allowing the blade to retreat into her arm once again.

"It's fine," Soul mumbled. "I'm not bleeding or anything."

"Look, you're already making progress," Kid smiled. "The fact that you're apologizing and forgiving each other is a good sign-!" The teen was suddenly cut off as Soul was sent swinging at him. He dodged, nearly avoiding losing his arm. "I suppose I deserve that for letting my guard down," He told the smirking Maka. "Feeling more comfortable?"

"Much," Replied the scythe meister. "But I'm still worried about what just happened. When my blade came out of my arm. If that happens again, Soul could get hurt much worse."

"It's simply because your weapon gene was just recently awoken," Kid explained. "It might start popping up like that randomly."

Maka groaned in exasperation. "I've studied too, smart guy. I know what happens when half-breeds discover their genetics," She sighed. "I just don't want to start cutting up my partner when we're in battle."

"I've got an idea."

Maka hadn't noticed that Soul had changed his form again and was now standing next to her, clutching her hand like she did his when he was going to transform for her.

"And It just might be crazy enough to work," The scythe concluded.

"What is it?" Maka asked, trying to still appear in a bad mood, but in truth she was much more relaxed now.

Soul allowed a smirk to form on his lips; he could see right through her facade. "Transform."

Maka paused. "What did you say?" She was caught off guard, enough that she forget to add the false anger to her voice.

"I said 'transform'," Soul repeated himself. "I figure if you start spouting blades, then we can switch off. I'll try using you, and that'll throw snakebutt off her guard," He concluded. "Or any other thing we happen to be trying to hack to bits."

Maka was silent. She would forever deny it, but she was scared. The cold metal configuration of a scythe had little or no room for movement, and she didn't want to be restricted like that. She didn't know if transforming would hurt, either, or if she actually capable of totally altering her form.

Being in tune with his partner once again, Soul began to pick up on the blonde's uneasy wavelength. He smiled gently, clutching her hand. "Hey, you don't need to if you don't want to." He assured her.

Maka sighed, shaking her head. "No. I'm doing this," She stated. "I'm not gonna hurt you just because I don't know how to control myself."

"Awwww!" Liz and Patty cooed. "That's so sweet!"

The blonde took a moment to glare at the pistols. "Shut up."

One minute Soul was smiling into the face of his meister, the next he was being pulled to the ground by a heavy metal object. "Maka?" He stared.

In Soul's hands was a long black shaft with a small golden tassel on the lower end. On the top the metal twisted into the form of an open oval, with a large silver-and-black blade curving from one side and small black spikes lining the other side.

"Wow," Soul's red eyes were wide.

"Is this right? How does it look?" Maka's voice sounded metallic as it echoed from the scythe she had become.

"Ya look AWESOME!" Black*Star cheered loudly from his tree branch. "Maybe we can trade off and I can use 'er sometime, eh Soul?"

"Not on your life," Both Maka and Soul snapped at the young ninja together, before Soul made another attempt to hoist up his new weapon.

"Dang it, you're heavy," The white-haired teen remarked. Maka's shaft suddenly swung from his grip and collided with certain areas that drove Soul to let out a high-pitched yelp. "Sorry! Sorry," The teen whimpered, believing the blonde had just possibly developed a weapon worse than her dreaded "Maka Chops".

"Pick me back up," Maka told him sternly, having been dropped on the ground once again. Soul proceeded to do as he was told, albeit very gingerly. After he trusted that he had a firm told, the teen resorted to memory. He tried to remember Maka's stance, form, and movement from when she had wielded him. Now that the tables were turned, this was going to be a bit more difficult.

Nothing that a cool guy couldn't handle.

Incorporating the strength both of muscle and soul, Soul swung Maka around towards Kid. The motion felt strange to Maka; not dizzying, but it got her adrenaline moving.

Kid dodged once more, firing a haphazard shot from Patty as he retreated. Relying wholly on instinct, Soul skillfully twirled Maka in front of him to deflect the shot, sending the pink-hued bullet of compressed wavelength hurtling at a nearby lamppost. It hit the metal hard, causing the thin structure to creak, and eventually topple over in sparks of electricity.

Soul stared at Maka for one more moment as her reflection appeared on her blade. The girl's eyes were wide as well. "That... Worked surprisingly well," She allowed herself to smile at the silver-haired teen, who smiled back.

"You bet it did," He grinned. "And it was way cool."

Both waited for a moment for Kid's praises amid Black*Star's wild whoops on congratulations, but the boy reaper spoke nothing of it. The two then noticed him curled up on the ground, whimpering.

"Y-you ruined the symmetry of this sidewalk..." He pointed with a weak finger at the lamppost. "It was perfectly symmetrical... Lampposts on both sides..."

"It's okay, Kid!" Patty grinned, back in her human form and kneeling next to her meister. "Wanna play tag? It'll make ya feel better!"

"Kid, we need to be going now," Liz sighed. "To fight Stein, like you said we would."

"Not yet," Maka suddenly protested. Her gaze turned to Soul. "I want to try and resonate."

Soul stared at her in flabbergasted astonishment. "You want to _resonate_? I've barely held you for two minutes, I keep on dropping you, I don't even have a meister's soul, and you want to try to _resonate_?"

"Do you want me to hit you again?" Maka growled, causing Soul to instantly cease his protests. Taking a deep breath to calm her anger, the blonde continued; "I think it would be a good idea. We need to try it out, even if our souls aren't used to the opposite roles."

Soul rolled his eyes. "Fine. But if I, you know, DIE from this, you better bring me back again so I can yell at you," He sighed, closing his eyes to concentrate. He realized the usual circumstance of Soul Resonance was much more rushed, but he wanted to get the feel of it first. Trying to remember what Maka had told him about a meister's role in Resonance - seeing as he hadn't payed much attention whenever it was brought up in class and therefore he needed her help on every test - he let his wavelength pulse into the form of his partner. It felt strange to not be the amplifying the connection, and because of that he nearly stumbled backwards when Maka sent the wavelength back at him, stronger than before. He could tell by the shakiness of the beat that she was timid as well, so he gripped her shaft reassuringly and continued his part, faster this time. Soul found himself yelling; as he did when he and Maka resonated before. He could feel the power growing. He opened his eyes as his red irises flared with power.

"WITCH HUNTER!" He cried out, swinging around his now-glowing partner towards the opposite lamppost. Exhilaration was burning within in, creating the raw power that he sent to Maka to be amplified. He never wanted to let that feeling go.

The lamppost quickly toppled to the ground, but unlike its twin, the pole hadn't been merely bent but entirely sliced in two.

Soul stood there for a moment as the silver scythe's blade returned to normal. She was silent for a minute, then breathed; "Wow."

The red-eyed teen smirked, his chest heaving. "Couldn't have said it better myself," He panted. "You have a hard job."

"Yours isn't a walk in the park, either," Maka replied. Her metal form then glowed brilliantly until she stood next to Soul again. "You can let go of my hand now," She giggled slightly, causing Soul to quickly release his grip.

"Sorry," He murmured, but his smirk didn't change. Maka smirked back.

"Forgiven."

"Now that the symmetry is somewhat back to balance," Kid coughed to draw attention to himself, "And you two can resonate again, I'd say we head to the Academy."

"All right! I'm tired of waitin'!" Black*Star nimbly landed from his perch to the ground, now standing next to Tsubaki. "Let's go get the Academy back!"

"And kill Medusa," Crona said quietly. "Right?"

Maka looked up at the ominous building upon the hilltop. At first her expression was one of dread and anxiety for the upcoming battle, before Soul gripped her hand. The blonde glanced at him once and caught his reassuring smirk. She then smiled back at him, to turn back to the building now without fear, but a grim determination. "Right, Crona," She assured her friend. "We're going to kill Medusa.

"And this time she's going to stay dead."

* * *

******THE CARDS ARE CUT. (See what I did there? ;3) Are you all excited? I'm excited ;)**

**WHAT FOURTH WALL, BLACK*STAR? XD**

**When Soul's talking about "when he beat up Crona a few months ago", he's referring to the events of my second one-shot: "Drowning In Green". Go check it out if you're confused. ;) About Maka's scythe form... I want to draw it. I'll try to soon, but I've got requests and a page full of things I wanna do :P See ya next chap! (There are probably a lot of spelling/grammar errors in here, I didn't have time to proofread. I'll fix 'em tomorrow, I promise.)**


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